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The firestorm of Nikesh Arora leaving SoftBank is starting to cool but the embers are still hot. The world is anxiously waiting to see what will be found in the ashes left over.
Meanwhile, SoftBank has quickly moved on and made a new appointment to the group COO position with an oldie but a goodie in Ken Miyauchi.
According to his company biography, Ken has been with SoftBank since 1984 – the year Ghostbusters and Terminator came out. His most recent position was that of director and president and CEO of SoftBank Corp (which used to be called the mobile division) within SoftBank Group.
Ken, 66, was present when SoftBank completed its leveraged buyout of the Japanese branch of Britain’s Vodafone. The famous move is studied in MBA programs across Japan. He was moved to the mobile company as COO in 2006 and is assumed to have worked closely with Masayoshi Son in turning the failing branch into a major carrier. “We have now improved our once-inferior network to equal or better than those of competitors,” he said in last year’s annual report.
The new placement will make him and Masayoshi the direct reports to the board under the company structure. A new right-hand man with experience in turning struggling telecoms around may be what Masayoshi is looking for to stop Sprint from bleeding. We will have to wait to see if this is just a temporary band aid or a more permanent fix.
See: Something doesn’t add up in Nikesh Arora’s sudden exit from SoftBank
Editing by Malavika Velayanikal and Judith Balea
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