SoftBank Group Corp. once again demonstrated its willingness to pay the highest compensation in Japan, with eight top executives making more than $64 million in total last year after the company reported record profits.
Simon Segars, who heads the company’s chip unit Arm Ltd., topped the list with a 1.88 billion yen ($17 million) paycheck in the year ended March 31, SoftBank said in a statement on Thursday. Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure, the highest-paid executive the previous year, was second with 1.8 billion yen. Founder Masayoshi Son saw his pay halved to 100 million yen.
In the past year, SoftBank went from reporting its widest-ever loss because of missteps like WeWork to setting a new profit record as other investments paid off. The company reported almost 5 trillion yen in net income last fiscal year, most of which came from a string of successful public listings by portfolio companies in its Vision Fund including Coupang Inc. and DoorDash Inc. SoftBank’s stock more than doubled in the period, thanks to an unprecedented 2.5 trillion yen share buyback program and improving prospects.
Rajeev Misra, who heads the Vision Fund, earned 931 million yen, most of which came as base pay at the unit. Katsunori Sago, who stepped down at the end of the year as chief strategy officer, made 250 million yen, less than a quarter of the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive’s pay the previous year. Ronald Fisher, Son’s long-time lieutenant and departing SoftBank Group vice chairman, earned 917 million yen.
Segars, who did not make the list last year because his pay was below 100 million yen, received a 1 billion yen bonus and made another 700 million yen from stock compensation. SoftBank is in the process of selling Arm to Nvidia Corp., but the $40 billion deal is facing increasing headwinds from regulators in China and the U.K.
The remuneration tallies for Misra, Claure and Sago didn’t include some of their pay as the group’s executive vice presidents after November, when all three stepped down from SoftBank’s board.
Ken Miyauchi, head of SoftBank’s domestic telecom operation, made 635 million yen, while its Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto made 480 million yen.
SoftBank declined to comment on the reasons for changes in pay.
