Dan Primack: commitment

Transcript context

…What is really interesting here is the SoftBank dynamic that comes into play with boards because they’re basically the only entity that is going to do the things that they’re going to do because they so aggressively want to put this capital to work. So, they basically arm Adam to go back to the board holding a piece of paper that says, “I’m going to get literally billions in investment dollars.” The terms can be as Adam-friendly as they want. You can look at the rest of the board. The board is not going to say, “No, we don’t want $2.3 billion of new capital coming into the company.” Almost any terms, they’re going to be happy with that, especially because what SoftBank does is they say, “Also, if you don’t take it, we’re going to find someone who competes against you who will.” Also, with SoftBank, they and Adam are peas in a pod in this. Adam is a grow, grow, grow person and that is what SoftBank’s model has been really with most of its companies that had Vision Funds invested in. Think of DoorDash, think of Uber. It has been that no matter what the industry is, if you buy market share, you can suffer the losses, we will make money eventually. In the case of WeWork, that is new markets, new cities, buildings, buy, buy, buy, and here’s your checkbook, we’re going to do this. That’s exactly what Adam wants to do. Yeah. There is a famous story also. They have a closing dinner for the investment in Tokyo after it happens and supposedly Masa asks Adam and Miguel who would win in a fight? Who wins in a fight? The crazy guy or the smart guy? Adam answers right off the bat, “The crazy guy.” Masa says, “Yes. The problem is you’re not crazy enough.” Dan, we talked about this as a prep for this. Masa, in a lot of ways, is feeding Adam’s instincts here.…

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