FEER:Softbank Finance's President A Combative Deal Maker
November 8, 2000
Dow Jones Newswires
-By Charles Bickers and Bruce Gilley in the Far Eastern Economic Review published Thursday.
TOKYO -- Visionary, outspoken, respected, sometimes a loose cannon. Whatever labels are applied to Yoshitaka Kitao, president of Softbank Finance, Softbank's (J.SFT) major Internet financial-services division, you never hear the word dull. Son recruited Kitao in 1995 from Nomura Securities, where he had been handling the Softbank account and raising eyebrows with his unconventional and overtly ambitious style.
With deregulation upending the Japanese financial sector and the Internet catching on fast, Kitao and Son saw that the time was ripe for the company to blaze into financial services on the Web, building on the money man's ability to grasp a deal and build companies quickly - skills that proved to be gold dust in the Net boom. His achievements include investments and partnerships with U.S. mutual-fund ratings company Morningstar, insurance specialist Insweb and on-line brokerage E*Trade.
As Softbank has grown, however, Kitao's outspoken style has begun to give the conservative Japanese financial markets a few jolts. In July, he publicly lambasted Yasumitsu Shigeta, then a Softbank director and president of one of Softbank's former partner companies, Hikari Tsushin, demanding Shigeta stand down from the Softbank board. Kitao also publicly criticized Richard Li, chairman of Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCW), who's a co-investor in Morningstar Asia. (Things have since been smoothed over.)
Still, some analysts see the recent reshuffle in Softbank's senior management, favoring new director Kazuhiko Kasai, as a means to centralize Softbank policy and neutralize some of the effects of Kitao's more aggressive behaviour. Says Toby Rodes, Internet analyst at Nikko Salomon Smith Barney. "They're repositioning a lot of vocal people like Kitao."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
URL for this Article:
interactive.wsj.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Printing, distribution, and use of this material is governed by your Subscription Agreement and copyright laws.
For information about subscribing, go to wsj.com
Subscription may be required to view article.
Used with permission from The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com. Copyright 200__
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. |
