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Comment by blindriver | Hacker News Reader

If people are concerned about a16z they should be more concerned about Softbank.

Softbank followed the same strategy except they are in serious debt. I think at some point they could be forced into liquidation and it will drive the second leg down for the tech market.

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> they should be more concerned about Softbank

I disagree. SoftBank isn’t raising new funds. It doesn’t have a functioning mouthpiece [1]. Andreessen is still taken seriously as an investor and thought leader, despite its abysmal record.

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/02a249fb-c1ca-4947-a324-d8fd6c2fe...

I agree. But still unable to get why tech/media is so craven when it comes to Andreessen. Since we get to see many other tech big shots, CEOs are frequent receivers of media lashing.

I saw a few reteweeted Andreessen tweets over last week and I hope he's just joking around because he genuinely sounded like a lunatic if he was being sincere.

What was he saying, in particular?

I don't know what there is to disagree with. Softbank did exactly what the tweets say a16z did/is doing, except 5 years ago. Except Softbank is 10x larger in size. They have already suffered a huge loss, except they are dripping in debt, and there's still plenty more for Softbank to fall. 5 years ago Softbank was considered a Tier 1 company as well. They are now what the tweets believe a16z will become in a few years. The final stage will be liquidation of their positions to pay off debt, which will critically injure Silicon Valley for years.

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