Letter to readers: Are Masa Son’s plans about to get crazier?

Dear readers,

There’s more SoftBank (bad?) news to round out the year: Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai – Japan’s richest person – has quit the board.

Will Son make wilder bets as a result? Of course, one should ask how much has Son listened to Yanai in the first place.

As Financial Times reports: “Son said he was scolded by Yanai at every board meeting – particularly over the WeWork issue – jokingly calling his friend ‘a scary external director’.”

The dissenting voice’s departure probably won’t impact SoftBank one bit. As I’ve opined last week, Son has been consistently mad (even with Yanai on board), but there’s a method to his madness. It’ll be foolish to count him – he’s gone through worse. And besides, the WeWork debacle was humbling enough.

Moving on, Putra Muskita wrote an explainer on the fast rise of Kredivo, Akulaku, and Oriente to the US$500 million club. The fintech scene is set to explode in 2020, and the pay-later sub-sector is one to watch.

Finally, Jack Ellis tells the compelling story of how SG Bike outlasted Chinese giants Mobike and Ofo in tiny Singapore. Score one more against the unicorn.

We’ve published more good stuff last week – you can check out the rest of the premium pieces here.

And there you have it – my last letter for 2019. It’s truly been a good year for Tech in Asia. Subscribers – and everyone who’s offered their intel and insights for our stories – have played a huge part in that.

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting us. (And if you’re not a subscriber, how about a belated Christmas gift for yourself or someone?)

We do have some exciting plans in store. See you in 2020!

Yours,

Terence