Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s (ARI) Problems Don’t Stop at COVID-19

Founder Who Turned Down SoftBank Set to Become Billionaire

(Bloomberg) -- At 23, Shunji Sugaya had what he calls a “life-changing episode.”It was March 2000, and Sugaya had just won an award at a business contest where Masayoshi Son, the founder of what was then called SoftBank Corp., was a judge. He sent Son an email to thank him, the two met up, and before long SoftBank offered to buy Sugaya’s idea for $2.8 million or for Sugaya to join the company and receive stock options.Sugaya turned it down.“It gave me a big boost in confidence as I was a student -- I was so happy I could dance,” he said in a video interview. “We were very grateful for the offer but we politely declined and decided to do it ourselves.”So Sugaya started his own company, Optim Corp., which now provides business-management platforms using artificial-intelligence and internet-of-things technologies. The bet has paid off, with Sugaya moving ever closer to...

Huawei’s 5G Patents Means U.S. Will Pay Despite Trump Ban

(Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co. owns the most patents on next-generation 5G technology, ensuring the Chinese company will get paid despite Trump administration efforts to erase it from the supply chain, according to a new study.The study by two research firms identified the inventions most closely connected to the 5G standards and found that six companies owned more than 80% -- Huawei, Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc., Nokia Oyj, Ericsson AB and Qualcomm Inc., the only U.S.-based company in the group.That may be awkward for President Donald Trump, whose administration has launched a global effort to shut out Huawei, accusing the Chinese company of being a security threat. The administration has launched a number of salvos, including a ban on the sale of any silicon made with U.S. know-how, which is hurting the Chinese company’s aspirations to grow in cutting-edge fields.“Even if they hire some other company to build the...