Michael Ronen is set to leave investment banking firm Goldman Sachs to take a partner position at telecom and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Bloomberg has reported.
Ronen has been co-chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs’ technology, media and telecommunications group since 2014, and oversees media and telecom mergers and acquisitions for the firm in the Americas.
SoftBank formally launched Vision Fund in May this year with $93bn, having raised cash from limited partners including corporates Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Sharp, funds backed by Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, and providing $28bn of cash and assets itself.
Ronen has known SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son for many years, having worked on its acquisition of telecom firm Sprint in 2013, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, and was interested in working on what is, in effect, the world’s largest private equity fund.
– Photo of Michael Ronen courtesy of Goldman Sachs.