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SoftBank COO may leave after not getting a $2 billion payday

Marcelo Claure is reportedly leaving over compensation disagreements.

Pedestrians and a cyclist wearing protective masks pass a SoftBank Corp. store in Tokyo, Japan.

Marcelo Claure might step down from his role at SoftBank.

Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure may step down as soon as today, CNBC reported.

Claure has been discussing resignation for several months, people familiar with the situation told CNBC, and is considering running his own investment firm. Bloomberg reported that the executive is resigning due to fights over compensation with Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's founder. Claure is currently the company's second-highest paid executive.

In December, Claure asked the company for $2 billion in compensation over a period of several years for his role as the SoftBank's fixer, such as negotiating Adam Neumann's $180 million severance package from WeWork and assisting in the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. Son and other senior executives from SoftBank disagreed that Claure deserved the steep compensation package.

Claure joined SoftBank in 2013 after selling a majority stake of Brightstar, a wireless service provider, to the company for $1.26 billion, and became the CEO of SoftBank-owned Sprint from 2014 to 2018. After stepping down from Sprint, he became COO at SoftBank Group and CEO at SoftBank Group International.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

softbankmarcelo clauremasayoshi sonresignationcompensation
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