The head of
Japanese tech group Softbank has condemned the murder of a journalist by Saudi
security forces, but said his company must continue to work with Riyadh.
In his first
public comments since Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Softbank chief Masayoshi Son
said his firm had a "responsibility" to the Saudi people.
Saudi Arabia
is the major investor in Softbank's $93bn (£71bn) Vision Fund.
The Vision
Fund helped the Japanese firm post a jump in quarterly profits.
The fund,
which holds investments in WeWork, Slack and Nvidia, is an investment vehicle focused
on emerging technology.
But global
outcry over the murder of Mr Khashoggi last month put Softbank's close
relationship with Saudi Arabia in focus.
Mr Son was
among a string of executives to withdraw from an investment forum in Riyadh
last month in the wake of the journalist's disappearance.
Saudi state blamed for Khashoggi murder
"It is
true that a horrible incident happened," Mr Son said on Monday. "On
the other hand, we have a responsibility towards the Saudi people, and we must
carry out our responsibility rather than turn our backs on them.
"These
funds are important to the Saudi people in ensuring their economy diversifies
and is no longer dependent on oil."
The comments
came as Softbank delivered an earnings update, with a sharp rise in first half
net profit to 840bn yen (£5.6bn) from 103bn yen in the same period last year.
Mr Son
founded Softbank and has guided it to become one of the world's biggest
technology companies.
The Japanese
entrepreneur is known to have an eye for firms with big potential. He was an
early investor in Alibaba and saw the potential in e-commerce before many
others.
Self-driving
technologies have attracted recent investment from Softbank, including GM's
autonomous unit Cruise and a partnership with Toyota to develop transport
services using autonomous vehicles.
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