Benzinga | May 21, 2021 01:53PM EDT

2 More Directors Depart from SoftBank Group: FT

* SoftBank Group Corp (OTC: SFTBY) (OTC: SFTBF) directors Yuko Kawamoto and Ron Fisher will depart as board members, the Financial Times reports.

* High pressure from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management and other investors over better corporate governance practices led to the election of Kawamoto.

* Kawamoto had reportedly challenged its founder Masayoshi Son on internal control issues.

* SoftBank's first woman director Kawamoto will become National Personnel Authority commissioner. SoftBank has selected another female director to replace her.

* Fisher, who supervised most of SoftBank's WeWork investment, will depart after 26 years. He reportedly worked the closest with management on its strategy and growth plans.

* SoftBank has defended the resignation as Fisher's decision and was unrelated to the WeWork investment.

* Fast Retailing Co Ltd (OTC: FRCOY) CEO Tadashi Yanai and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) co-founder Jack Ma resigned as directors as SoftBank started investing in technology start-ups through its $100 billion Vision Fund.

* Arm CEO Simon Segars will depart after SoftBank sold the U.K. company to NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA).

* Price action: SFTBY shares traded lower by 1.47% at $39 on the last check Friday.