SoftBank Group Corp. once again demonstrated its willingness to pay the highest compensation in Japan, with eight top executives making more than ¥6.98 billion ($64 million) in total last year after the company reported record profits.
Simon Segars, who heads the company’s chip unit Arm Ltd., topped the list with a ¥1.88 billion ($17 million) paycheck in the year ended March 31, SoftBank said in a statement on Thursday. Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure, the highest-paid executive the previous year, was second with ¥1.8 billion. Founder Masayoshi Son saw his pay halved to ¥100 million.
In the past year, SoftBank went from reporting its widest-ever loss because of missteps like WeWork to setting a new profit record as other investments paid off. The company reported almost ¥5 trillion in net income last fiscal year, most of which came from a string of successful public listings by portfolio companies in its Vision Fund including Coupang Inc. and DoorDash Inc. SoftBank’s stock more than doubled in the period, thanks to an unprecedented ¥2.5 trillion share buyback program and improving prospects.