Masayoshi Son

The native form of this personal name is Son Masayoshi. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Masayoshi Son
孫 正義
Son in 2008
Born
Masayoshi Yasumoto (安本 正義)[1]

(1957-08-11) 11 August 1957 (age 67)
Tosu, Saga, Japan
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist
Known forPrincipal founder of Softbank
TitleChairman and CEO, SoftBank
SpouseMasami Ohno
Children2

Masayoshi Son (Japanese: 孫 正義, romanized: Son Masayoshi, Korean: 손정의, romanized: Son Jeong-ui; born 11 August 1957) is a Japanese billionaire technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. A third-generation Zainichi Korean, he naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 1990.[2] He is the founder, representative director, corporate officer, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG),[3] a technology-focused investment holding company, as well as chairman of UK-based Arm Holdings.[4]

As an entrepreneur, he achieved notability in PC software distribution, computing-related book and magazine publishing, and telecommunications in Japan, starting in the 1980s and booming throughout the 1990s and 2000s.[5][6] His early $20 million investment in Alibaba Group in 2000 grew substantially over the years, reaching a valuation of around $75 billion by 2014 following Alibaba's IPO and contributing significantly to SoftBank's financial success.[7] SoftBank's 27 percent stake in Alibaba was worth $132 billion in 2018,[8] including additional purchases of the stock since 2000.[9][10] The morphing of his own telecom company SoftBank Corp. into an investment management firm called SoftBank Group Corp. made him noted worldwide as a stock investor. He is known for his bold investment strategies,[11][12] sometimes resulting in major losses, particularly with the first and second SoftBank Vision Funds.[13][14][15]

In 2013, Son was placed 45th on the Forbes magazine's list of the World's Most Powerful People.[16] As of July 2024, Son ranks 55th on the Forbes's list of The World's Billionaires[17] and is #135 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[18] He had for many years the distinction of being the person who had lost the most money in history (more than $59bn[19] during the dot com crash of 2000 alone, when his SoftBank shares plummeted),[20] a feat surpassed by Elon Musk[21][22][23] in the following decades. Son was included in Time 100 AI list in 2024.[24]

  1. ^ "SoftBank's Son stands up to anti-Korean bigotry in Japan". Nikkei Asia. 27 August 2015.
  2. ^ "[인물 프로필] 거지소년 손정의(孫正義) 재일교포 일본서 돈 번 비결, 소프트뱅크 세계 최대 IT 재벌 인생 스토리" [[Person Profile] Son Jeong-ui]. 글로벌이코노믹 (in Korean). 4 July 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Board of Directors". Arm Ltd. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Masayoshi Son's $58 Billion Payday on Alibaba". Bloomberg.com. 8 May 2014. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  5. ^ Webber, Alan M. (1 January 1992). "Japanese-Style Entrepreneurship: An Interview with Softbank'S CEO, Masayoshi Son". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  6. ^ "SoftBank's Masayoshi Son won iPhone exclusivity after pitching Apple cellphone to Steve Jobs". AppleInsider. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Alibaba IPO highlights SoftBank's value dilemma". Reuters. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  8. ^ Merced, Michael J. de la (13 July 2018). "Investing in SoftBank Is Becoming a Bet on Its Founder's Deal-Making Prowess". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  9. ^ "Inside the eccentric, relentless deal making of SoftBank's Masayoshi Son". Los Angeles Times. 2 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Mega-IPO to rekindle the 'bromance' behind Alibaba's rise". CNBC. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  11. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (6 December 2017). "SoftBank's Masayoshi Son is about to make either himself or you look like a fool". Vox. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Inside the Eccentric, Relentless Deal-Making of Masayoshi Son". Bloomberg.com. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  13. ^ Williams, Oscar (11 August 2022). "The dangerous approach of SoftBank's Masayoshi Son". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  14. ^ "SoftBank's Top 10 Worst Startup Investments - ValueWalk". ValueWalk. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  15. ^ "SoftBank Vision Fund Posts Record Loss Despite Masayoshi Son Foreseeing Disaster". Observer. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  16. ^ Caroline Howard. "No. 45: Masayoshi Son - In Photos: The World's Most Powerful People: 2013". Forbes. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  17. ^ "Masayoshi Son". Forbes. 19 September 2024.
  18. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg. 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  19. ^ "The biggest and fastest net-worth losses of our time". Fortune. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  20. ^ Sorkin, Andrew Ross (13 December 2010). "A Key Figure in the Future of Yahoo". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  21. ^ "Elon Musk becomes first person ever to lose $200 billion". 1 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Elon Musk breaks world record for 'worst loss of fortune,' Guinness says". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  23. ^ "How Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and the World's 500 Richest Billionaires Lost $1.4 Trillion in a Year". Bloomberg.com. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  24. ^ "The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2024". TIME. Retrieved 18 September 2024.