Former SoftBank CFO Alok Sama explains that while he executed the acquisition of ARM, Masayoshi Son drove the decision despite conventional valuation concerns.
“The arm deal, which I'm closely associated with I can't claim Credit for going out and buying that company, merely the execution because I probably would have, wouldn't have seen beyond the fact that the stock is expensively valued and you got to pay a big control premium.”
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More from Alok Sama
What-if
Masayoshi Son would not have invested in Alibaba using traditional advisors
“If he started making all these investment decisions based on advice, like people like me, I don't think he would have done the Alibaba deal”
Alok SamaNov 29, 2024▶ 29:39Former SOFTBANK CFO: My Honest Experience Working With Masayoshi Son | Alok Sama | The Neon Show
Opinion
Nvidia's 40x PE valuation is not outrageous given its 75% margins
“Nvidia is the poster child, right? I mean, that's the one everyone talks about in Nvidia. Again, I haven't looked at that. Don't look, I don't follow stocks on a daily basis, by the way, I'm not a research analyst or a portfolio manager, but at 35 to 40 times …”
Alok SamaNov 29, 2024▶ 32:34Former SOFTBANK CFO: My Honest Experience Working With Masayoshi Son | Alok Sama | The Neon Show
Opinion
Public tech markets are not in a dot-com style bubble today
“It's nothing like the bubble we saw in the year, 2000. Cisco as a provider of the plumbing for the internet is the closest comparable. Cisco is trading at 200 times earnings. So I don't think we're in bubble territory in the world of technology yet. I think th…”
Alok SamaNov 29, 2024▶ 33:00Former SOFTBANK CFO: My Honest Experience Working With Masayoshi Son | Alok Sama | The Neon Show
Opinion
Raw processing power is commoditized among top business and IIT graduates
“I think that that is somewhat commoditized. A lot of people have that. And a lot of people you end up interviewing who coming out of the top business schools or IOTs or whatever, Processing power intelligence is something you can take for granted.”
Alok SamaNov 29, 2024▶ 6:44Former SOFTBANK CFO: My Honest Experience Working With Masayoshi Son | Alok Sama | The Neon Show
Insight
Blitzscaling works brilliantly for platform technology models with network effects
“The idea of blitzscaling Reid Hoffman introduced that into the vernacular, you know, the idea that you just grow at all costs. And that's something that works brilliantly for platform technology models. Right? Where you don't worry about profitability. It's al…”
Alok SamaNov 29, 2024▶ 15:53Former SOFTBANK CFO: My Honest Experience Working With Masayoshi Son | Alok Sama | The Neon Show
Insight
Traditional financial valuation skills are frequently useless in technology investing
“I have to say that there's a lot you have to, or I had to unlearn because the analytical skills you pick up valuation, for example, are frequently not that meaningful in a In a technology investment universe. So there was a little bit of a fair bit of unlearni…”
Alok SamaNov 29, 2024▶ 19:52Former SOFTBANK CFO: My Honest Experience Working With Masayoshi Son | Alok Sama | The Neon Show
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