Word: softbank
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Since then, it is as if Son & Co. trained a fire hose on Silicon Valley and pumped in a steady stream of cash. President Gary Rieschel figures that in 1996, with Softbank Technology Ventures still an unknown in the valley, it invested $200 million in 55 companies in four months-- although "investing" hardly describes the act of writing checks as fast as you can. Last month Softbank opened Hotbank, an incubator for start-ups. There has been no need to advertise. Each week hundreds of applications pour into Hotbank; out come announcements of new Softbank allies: PeoplePC, Webvan, Global Sports...
...strategy is putting pressure on the competition. Traditional venture-capital outfits like Kleiner Perkins and powerful newcomers such as David Weatherell's CMGI have been assembling their own Internet conglomerates. Now they may have to do battle with Softbank. "These keiretsu are going to face off like football teams," says Howard Anderson, founder of consultants the Yankee Group. Yahoo competes with Lycos, which CMGI covets, and Kleiner Perkins' WebGrocer will be up against Softbank's Webvan, another online supermarket based in California...
...Softbank's rivals can take some solace in knowing that Son's mistakes have been spectacular. He wasted billions of dollars on Ziff-Davis, which he is trying to sell off piece by piece. He sold Kingston at a loss, and some of his start-ups, as start-ups are wont to do, went south. Son would say these failures are the price of admission. If you don't play...
...real question is whether an impulsive entrepreneur like Son can actually manage this empire. Softbank's U.S. chief executive, Ron Fisher, is struggling to staff the U.S.-based venture business, hiring analysts, consultants and even a public relations staff. But some of its clients complain that unless they fly as high as Yahoo, they don't get enough attention. "We are not at the stage we want to be," admits Fisher...
Even so, the scale of Softbank's ambitions could transform e-commerce. In a world where every company, every billionaire with spare change, is forming an Internet investment arm, the competition for start-up dollars is shifting into a battle over who gets to invest in the next hot company. Son's premise is simple: there may be a litter of online pet-supply stores today, but only the best will survive...