Softbank dispatches senior executives to help Covid-19 hit Oyo: Report

 

Oyo has struggled in Japan even with the full endorsement of SoftBank.

SoftBank Group Corp. is dispatching two executives to help Oyo Hotels, one of the largest startups in its portfolio, right its virus-stricken business in Japan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oyo Japan, a joint venture between the Indian online hotel operator and SoftBank’s domestic telecoms unit, is creating a six-member management oversight committee to deal with the situation, the people said, asking not be identified because the details are not yet public. SoftBank Corp. Executive Vice President Eric Gan and Lucio Di Ciaccio, an investor at SoftBank’s Vision Fund, will join a group of Oyo Japan executives on the committee including new Chief Executive Officer Ryoma Yamamoto.

Oyo has been among the hardest-hit in SoftBank’s global portfolio of sharing economy outfits. It slashed its regional presence in Japan by closing offices in provincial centers at the end of June and is also looking to downsize its Tokyo headquarters. The company also merged its hotel-booking and apartment-rental units in the country under new leadership. The moves extend the company’s effort to retrench internationally as it adapts to a much smaller tourism industry in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Spokespeople for SoftBank and Oyo Japan declined to comment.

The creation of the committee was announced at a townhall meeting on Aug. 3, attended by SoftBank Corp. CEO Ken Miyauchi for the first time, the people said. Gan is a SoftBank veteran who has been responsible for setting up joint ventures with portfolio companies in Japan. He led eAccess Ltd., a rival wireless operator, before it got acquired by SoftBank in 2013. Di Ciaccio joined the Vision Fund in 2017 from the Carlyle Group Inc.