Marcelo Claure to leave SoftBank as the ‘great resignation’ keeps hitting VC

Marcelo Claure plans to step down as COO of SoftBank. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure is in negotiations to resign from the Japanese investor over a compensation dispute, according to reports. The departure would be the latest in a string of high-profile exits from SoftBank and other VC firms.
 

• At SoftBank, Claure has been a towering figure. He oversaw the turnaround and sale of Sprint, led SoftBank’s investment push into Latin America, and took over WeWork following founder Adam Neumann’s departure. Claure had sought $2 billion in compensation over several years, but was denied by CEO Masayoshi Son, The New York Times reported in December.
   
• The Japanese conglomerate has had a string of high-profile departures from its investment group. Jeff Housenbold, who led SoftBank’s investments in DoorDash, Opendoor and Rappi, left a year ago. Then Deep Nishar, one of the top leaders at the Vision Fund, left the company at the end of the year to join General Catalyst.
   
• Michel Combes, who currently serves as president of SoftBank Group International, will take over Claure’s duties running the group, according to reports.
   
• Other notable recent VC departures include Katie Haun, who left her post as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz to launch a crypto fund in December. Last week, Amy Wu left Lightspeed to lead FTX’s $2 billion venture fund.
   
• Demand for venture capitalists at all levels has increased recently amid record capital amounts that were poured into the industry last year.
   

The VC industry has become increasingly fragmented amid record fundraising, which has created fresh opportunities for investors to strike out on their own. First-time fundraising, which dropped steeply in 2020, rebounded in 2021 with $9.1 billion raised across 172 funds, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. Meanwhile, solo VCs have gained influence with ever-larger funds and an ability to deploy capital quickly.