Tech

SoftBank has doubled Vision Fund CEO's pay to $15 million despite record losses of $18 billion

Key Points
  • The CEO of SoftBank's ailing Vision Fund, Rajeev Misra, is to be paid 1.61 billion Japanese yen ($15 million) this year.
  • It makes the former Deutsche Bank trader the second-highest paid SoftBank employee, behind Marcelo Claure, the former chairman of U.S. telco Sprint. 
  • The rise in Misra's pay contrasts with ballooning losses at the Vision Fund he oversees. 
Rajeev Misra, CEO of the SoftBank Investment Advisers.
SoftBank

The CEO of SoftBank's ailing Vision Fund, Rajeev Misra, is to be paid 1.61 billion Japanese yen ($15 million) this year, according to a notice SoftBank sent to its shareholders on Friday that was cited by multiple reports out of Japan. 

The total package is 113% more than Misra received in the last fiscal year, when he took home around $7 million.

Misra's base pay for the year now stands at 1.42 billion yen ($13.2 million), with the remainder being described as "other" pay.

It means the former Deutsche Bank debt trader is the second-highest paid SoftBank employee, behind Marcelo Claure, the former chairman of U.S. telecoms firm Sprint, who is on $19.6 million. SoftBank's billionaire founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has seen his pay fall 9% to $1.9 million. 

The surge in Misra's pay contrasts with the financial performance of the tech investment company he heads up, which is aiming to deploy over $200 billion to fast-growing start-ups. 

The Vision Fund reported a record loss of $17.7 billion earlier this month after huge bets on companies like Uber and WeWork turned sour. SoftBank has written down WeWork's valuation from $47 billion a year ago to $2.9 billion, while Uber's valuation has also collapsed by over $10 billion in the last year.

Questions are now being asked on whether SoftBank's $108 billion Vision Fund 2 will go ahead as planned. Son said that he won't try to raise capital from other companies and individuals until companies in Vision Fund 1 start performing better. 

The notice to shareholders also provided an insight into the growth of the Vision Fund's workforce, with staff numbers growing from 297 a year ago to 454. 

SoftBank did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.