SoftBank Group announced that Robert Townsend will join as Chief Legal Officer and SVP in September. He will also serve as Chief Legal Officer of SoftBank Group International.
Townsend will be based in SoftBank's Silicon Valley office, and report to Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank, and Marcelo Claure, Director, EVP COO of SoftBank and CEO of SoftBank Group International. In this newly created role, Townsend will be responsible for leading SoftBank's legal, compliance operations and corporate governance program on a global basis.
He is currently a co-chair of Morrison & Foerster's Global M&A Practice Group. Over the course of his thirty-year career, Townsend has established a track record of advising the world's top companies through their most complicated and demanding transactions, says Softbank.Townsend's clients have included some of the world's leading technology, media and telecom companies. He has worked closely with SoftBank over the last several years to complete numerous transactions, including Sprint's proposed merger with T-Mobile, as well as SoftBank's acquisitions of ARM Holdings and Sprint Nextel.
Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO, Softbank
We are very pleased he has agreed to join SoftBank as we transition the company into a leading global investment firm focused on the technologies that will drive the next phase of the information revolution.
Marcelo Claure, Director, EVP COO of Softbank
Rob's extensive experience and proven track record of advising global companies, as well as his deep involvement in the SoftBank Group's largest and most complex transactions over many years, make him the perfect choice to serve SoftBank and its global portfolio of companies.
