After WeWork’s fall, what next for SoftBank?

“His eyes were very strong. Strong, shining eyes.” So Son Masayoshi explained his decision back in 2000 to invest $20m in a Chinese e-commerce startup founded by Jack Ma. By the time SoftBank, Mr Son’s investment group, finished selling most of its stake in Alibaba earlier this year, it had made $65bn from the gamble. Less successful was the Japanese billionaire’s bet on Adam Neumann, the charismatic founder of WeWork, an office-rental firm that declared bankruptcy on November 6th. SoftBank is estimated to have torched around $14bn backing it.