The irony is that essentially all of SoftBank's playbook is ripped from Buffett.

Except Buffett did it with non-tech, capital-heavy companies. Where it arguably works a lot more reliably.

"SoftBank's playbook is ripped from Buffett"

How so?

Buffett's hypothesis (as I understand it) boiled down to (1) find successful businesses that are capital-starved, (2) pair them with businesses which naturally generate float (e.g. insurance), under a corporate umbrella, (3) invest the float in those businesses and thereby beat market returns (by only selecting quality businesses, and having the ability to provide mentorship / experienced leadership).

Ok fair enough, that's more late Buffett.

I don't think he invests so much in capital starved businesses, more he just uses the cash generated by eg insurance to invest in high quality businesses. I suppose the difference here is the high quality part. Wework doesn't seem to have much of a moat, have particularly good governance, or have much of a track record of anything.

What does 'generate float' mean as a financial term?

It basically means "hold cash", so visa, stripe, insurance companies etc. all get cash from customers, hold it for a period of time, and distribute it to customers.

Holding it for a period of time is "generating float." For many of these companies the float is a large multiple of the profit.