Reuters / Kim Kyung Hoon
- SoftBank's chief people officer is out after just a year at the company, Business Insider has learned.
- Michelle Horn joined the Japanese investor from McKinsey, where she spent more than 20 years.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
SoftBank Group's chief people officer has left after a spending just year at the investment firm, Business Insider has learned.
Michelle Horn joined the Japanese investor in late January 2019 after 23 years at McKinsey. When she started at SoftBank, she reported to Chief Executive Masayoshi Son and chief operating officer Marcelo Claure, who is currently the chairman of WeWork.
A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment, and Horn did not respond to a request for comment.
It was unclear if SoftBank is immediately filling Horn's role.
A press statement when Horn joined said the chief people officer was a newly created role. In that global role she was tasked with ensuring SoftBank Group (SBG) recruited and developed leaders.
"She will also be a resource to the many high-growth portfolio companies in which SBG is invested, innovating people approaches to help the companies drive value and scale," the statement said when her hiring was announced.
At McKinsey, Horn was a partner for eight years. Her roles included director of client service personnel and chief of staff to global managing director Dominic Barton, who stepped down in 2018. Horn worked on recruiting, development, compensation, evaluation, and culture at the consultancy, and was a member of the company's committee to select new partners.
More scrutiny for SoftBank
Horn's departure comes as SoftBank faces more scrutiny over its investments, some of which have struggled to find a path to profitability after raising significant money from SoftBank. WeWork, for example, raised billions from SoftBank before a failed attempt to go public led to the investor installing new leadership and bailing out the office company.
In the last year, companies backed by the investor have laid off more than 7,000 employees globally, Business Insider found in a January review of staff reductions.
SoftBank is raising a successor to the Vision Fund, a $97 billion venture fund that's backed companies including Uber, Slack, WeWork, and Wag.
Son is targeting $108 billion for Vision Fund II, which SoftBank is already investing in companies including Alto Pharmacy.
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