Japan’s SoftBank Said to Hire Rajeev Misra From Fortress

By Stephanie Ruhle and David Carey

Rajeev Misra, a former debt-trading executive at Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG who joined Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) earlier this year, is leaving for SoftBank Corp. (9984), according to three people briefed on the move.
Misra, 52, hasn’t left New York-based Fortress yet, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the move hasn’t been made public. Misra plans to relocate to either Silicon Valley or San Francisco from London and will focus on acquisitions, the people said.
SoftBank, the Japanese company that paid $22 billion for control of Sprint Corp. last year, has investments in more than 1,300 technology companies and agreed earlier this month to spend $250 million for a minority stake in movie studio Legendary Entertainment. The wireless carrier said in July Google Inc.’s Nikesh Arora would join as vice chairman and chief executive officer of newly formed SoftBank Internet & Media Inc. to help steer its global expansion.
“As SoftBank expands, Son can’t do everything. He is gathering people who
can run businesses instead of him,” said Hideki Yasuda, a Tokyo-based analyst at Ace Research Institute. “SoftBank wants to become a global company.”
Misra didn’t reply to a request for comment. A spokesman for Fortress said he couldn’t immediately comment. Hiroe Kotera, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for SoftBank, declined to comment by phone.
SoftBank fell 3.1 percent to close at 6,877 yen in Tokyo, extending a 25 percent loss this year. The company, which has a market value of about $77 billion, has a 32 percent stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. worth about $68 billion.
Arora will help define, implement and manage the company’s global growth strategy, SoftBank said in July. As CEO of the Internet unit he will be directly responsible for overseeing Web, telecommunications, media and global investment activities.
Misra won’t be reporting to Arora, the people said.