Souring bets across its portfolio have left SoftBank selling down prime assets and holding back from making new investments. Hoshino is expected to bolster the investment team at a time when CEO Masayoshi Son has received criticism for his top-down investing approach.
Ex-hedge fund manager Hoshino is the second SoftBank hire from a group at Japan Post Bank that was known as the "Seven Samurai" and tried a more aggressive investing strategy that has since been rolled back.
The other is Katsunori Sago, also a Goldman alumnus, who became SoftBank's chief strategy officer in 2018 and is seen as a possible successor to CEO Son.
Hoshino is faced with an increasingly beleaguered portfolio, with satellite operator OneWeb, which embodied Son's vision of a connected world, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to raise further funds.
Shared-office operator WeWork is also facing growing pressure on its business model as workers stay home due to the coronavirus outbreak, and SoftBank is looking at walking away from a tender offer to employees and shareholders following its bailout of the firm.
By Sam Nussey
