Sina US Stock News, December 28, Beijing time, said on Friday that Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. (SoftBank Group Corp.) said on Friday that Tadashi Yanai (Tadashi Yanai), founder and CEO of Uniqlo's parent company Fast Retailing (Fast Retailing), will resign as an independent director of SoftBank at the end of this month to focus on its fashion business.

Tadashi Yanai has served on the SoftBank board for over 18 years. The billionaire is a long-time ally of SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son (Masayoshi Son), who is one of only three external members on the board of directors; the board includes SoftBank executives and heads of their portfolio companies.

As Tadashi Yanai resigns, SoftBank is struggling to cope with the consequences of WeWork's failed IPO. Masayoshi Sun said he misjudged the personality of WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann (Adam Neumann) and promised to strengthen corporate governance for SoftBank's investments.

However, experts are critical of SoftBank's governance, saying that SoftBank has few truly independent voices to question Sun Zhengyi's judgment. Yanai, on the other hand, is one of the few people who can express objections to some of Sun Zhengyi's decisions.

Sun Zhengyi defended the board of directors in November after reporting SoftBank's first quarterly loss in 14 years. He said Yanai was one of his board members who reprimanded him because of WeWork's investment.

A SoftBank spokesperson said that Tadashi Yanai's successor has yet to be determined.