SoftBank Group Corp Chief Operating Officer (COO) Marcelo Claure is in talks to leave the Japanese conglomerate, after a fallout with founder Masayoshi Son over his compensation and responsibilities.
At SoftBank International, Claure's deputy Michel Combes is expected to take over his duties, according to news agency Reuters.
Already being one of the highest-paid executives at the tech giant after earning a pay package of $17 million in 2020, Claure has been in talks to leave SoftBank for several months, according to earlier media reports.
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In recent months, the 51-year-old executive who was promoted as COO in 2018, sought $1 billion in compensation because of his contributions, including the sale of US mobile arm Sprint Corporation and the listing of troubled co-working space operator WeWork.
The Bolivian-American also advocated for a spinoff of the Latin American investment fund he oversees for SoftBank, according to Bloomberg News.
Claure has spent several years at SoftBank clearing up messy investments and had expected to be paid higher, however, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was looking to pay him a much smaller sum.
The CEO had discussed a potential structure that could have allowed Claure to be paid much more than his existing package, but never committed to it on paper. Due to this, Claure had offered to resign in the past but the negotiations this time are advanced with him planning to leave the company over the next few weeks.
Claure launched a mobile phone distribution company in the US in the 1990s. Over the years, he has served in key posts at SoftBank, including president and CEO of Sprint Corporation. He has been working to rebuild real estate firm WeWork as its executive chairman since October 2019, when SoftBank announced an additional investment in the office-sharing company.
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