Softbank PSC jumps at chance to grab North

Richard North, former UK MD of Merisel, surfaced at customer services firm Softbank PSC last Monday, two months after being made redundant from the broadliner.

North will be in charge of the day-to-day running of Softbank PSC as chief operating officer.

He said he was happy to move away from distribution. ?Working for a broadliner was a hard model as it didn?t have much intellectual depth. Merisel was an interim role to help it through a particular period.?

Softbank PSC was keen to recruit North because of his previous experience at rival dealer Stream as European VP.

Howard Sarna, CEO of Softbank PSC, said: ?I?ve known him as a strong competitor for years. Bringing him on to the team from a rival is very satisfying.?

Softbank competes with Stream in the outsourcing market which Softbank says accounts for 20 per cent of Stream?s turnover. Softbank is a subsidiary of the huge Japanese Softbank Corporation.