IT Blog

TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp said on Wednesday it has appointed former Goldman Sachs banker Taiichi Hoshino as head of a new investment planning department, as the group increases oversight of its tech bets battered by volatile markets.

Souring bets across its portfolio have left SoftBank selling down prime assets and holding back from making new investments. Hoshino is expected to bolster the investment team at a time when CEO Masayoshi Son has received criticism for his top-down investing approach.

Ex-hedge fund manager Hoshino is the second SoftBank hire from a group at Japan Post Bank that was known as the “Seven Samurai” and tried a more aggressive investing strategy that has since been rolled back.

The other is Katsunori Sago, also a Goldman alumnus, who became SoftBank’s chief strategy officer in 2018 and is seen…