FINANCIAL TIMES - SoftBank invested $150M in IRL, a social media app touted as the next Facebook, in 2022. However, suspicions arose among former employees about the platform's authenticity despite claims of widespread usage. The startup was quietly shut down 15 months later when investors discovered evidence that the majority of its reported 20M users were fake. Now, IRL's collapse has led to legal battles between SoftBank and the app's founder, Abraham Shafi, who alleges premature closure based on inconclusive data. The case raises questions about SoftBank's due diligence and marks another setback for the conglomerate after the WeWork debacle.
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