Ex-SoftBank CFO Alok Sharma's Memoir Gives Inside View of Masayoshi Son

A new book by Alok Sharma, the former president and CFO of SoftBank Group International, offers a rare look at how SoftBank's biggest investment decisions were made. Sharma was long regarded as the right-hand man of founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, and his account is already drawing attention among readers who follow the company.

Sharma was born in India, earned an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a managing director at Morgan Stanley before joining SoftBank. He came on board at the request of his friend Nikesh Arora, whom Son once brought in as a potential successor and who is now CEO of Palo Alto Networks.

Deals, successes and failures

The book walks through the acquisition of Arm, the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile, the sale of Supercell, the investment in Coupang and the sale of Alibaba shares. It also covers the failed WeWorkinvestment, told from the perspective of someone who sat at the table. Readers can follow the reasoning behind transactions that outsiders could rarely see.

Some readers may open the book hoping for gossip about why Son parted ways with Arora and the friction around it. Those episodes appear, but Sharma does not hand down a verdict. He sticks to describing the deals and the relationships, with the emphasis on how to move people, companies and society, shown through the many conversations of an investor.

A distinctive voice

Son's own words appear relatively sparingly. Instead, his character emerges through the observations of someone close to him. The writing also stands out: a prologue that reads like a spy novel and subheadings that quote music and film. Unlike many executive books shaped by a ghostwriter, this one carries traces of the author's own preferences and outlook on life, and the reason for his skill as a writer is revealed at the very end.

For anyone who has followed SoftBank and the Vision Fund, the book works as a behind-the-scenes companion to some of the most closely watched transactions of recent years.