Masayoshi Son—Rejected governance reforms from Elliott Management, compared himself to 'Napoleon or Genghis Khan' and said 'I am not a CEO'
In 2019, activist investor Elliott Management built a 3% stake in SoftBank and demanded governance reforms, citing that the company was trading 50% below fair value due to poor governance - a tame board, overcomplicated corporate structure, and lack of transparency. Masayoshi Son rejected the reforms and compared himself to historical conquerors: 'Napoleon or Genghis Khan or Emperor Qin [builder of the Great Wall of China]. I am not a CEO.' This response highlighted Son's autocratic leadership style and resistance to corporate accountability.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.500 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.50)