Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son
Born	Masayoshi Yasumoto 11 8, 1957
Birthplace	Tosu, Saga, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist
Title	Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group; Chairman, Arm Holdings; Chairman, Stargate LLC
Known for	Founder of SoftBank Group
Education	University of California, Berkeley (BA)
Awards	Entrepreneur of the Year, The Asian Awards (2017); Time 100 Most Influential People in AI (2024, 2025)
Website	[[group.softbank/en group.softbank/en] Official site]

Masayoshi Son (Japanese: 孫 正義; born Masayoshi Yasumoto, August 11, 1957) is a Japanese entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who founded SoftBank Group, one of the world's largest technology-focused investment holding companies. A Zainichi Korean born in the southern Japanese city of Tosu, Son rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most consequential figures in global technology investing, with a career spanning more than four decades that has encompassed software distribution, publishing, telecommunications, and venture capital on a massive scale. His early $20 million investment in Alibaba Group in 2000 — which grew to a valuation of approximately $75 billion by the time of Alibaba's initial public offering in 2014 — remains one of the most profitable venture investments in history. Son also serves as chairman of UK-based Arm Holdings and US-based Stargate LLC. In Forbes magazine's 2013 ranking, he was placed 45th on the list of the World's Most Powerful People. As of 2025, he is one of Japan's wealthiest individuals and ranks among the top 100 on the Forbes list of The World's Billionaires.

Early Life

Masayoshi Son was born Masayoshi Yasumoto on August 11, 1957, in Tosu, a city in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan. He is of Zainichi Korean descent — part of the ethnic Korean minority community that has lived in Japan for generations, often facing social discrimination. His family, like many Zainichi Koreans of that era, had adopted a Japanese surname (Yasumoto) in accordance with prevailing social pressures. Son grew up in modest circumstances; his family lived in an impoverished community. Despite these challenging origins, Son demonstrated ambition and intellectual curiosity from a young age.

Son has spoken publicly about the discrimination he experienced as a Zainichi Korean growing up in Japan, a subject he later addressed in order to inspire young people facing similar bigotry. In his formative years, he became deeply influenced by the work of the Japanese entrepreneur and civic leader Den Fujita, who had brought McDonald's to Japan. According to Son's own recounting, as a teenager he sought out Fujita for advice, and Fujita encouraged him to study in the United States and to learn about the computer industry — counsel that would prove profoundly consequential for Son's career trajectory.

At the age of 16, Son left Japan for the United States, a move that represented both a bold personal step and a departure from the expectations of his community. He enrolled in high school in California before pursuing higher education. Son later legally adopted the Korean reading of his family name, becoming Masayoshi Son rather than using the Japanese surname Yasumoto — a public acknowledgment of his Korean heritage that was unusual among Zainichi Koreans of his generation.

Education

Son attended Serramonte High School in Daly City, California, before transferring to Holy Names University in Oakland. He subsequently enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied economics and computer science. While still a student at Berkeley, Son displayed the entrepreneurial drive that would define his career. He developed a prototype electronic translator, which he reportedly sold to Sharp Corporation for approximately $1 million, providing him with early capital.

Son graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. His time in the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1970s exposed him to the nascent personal computing revolution and the entrepreneurial culture of Silicon Valley, experiences that formed the intellectual foundation of his later business career.

Career

Founding of SoftBank

After returning to Japan in 1981, Son founded SoftBank Corp. (originally written as "SOFTBANK") as a software distribution company. The business initially focused on distributing packaged software for personal computers, acting as a wholesaler and bridging the gap between American software developers and the Japanese market. SoftBank rapidly became one of Japan's leading distributors of computer software and related products.

Throughout the 1980s, Son expanded SoftBank's operations into computing-related publishing, launching magazines and books focused on the personal computing industry. These ventures capitalized on the growing Japanese consumer interest in personal computers and established SoftBank as a significant player in Japan's emerging information technology sector. By the early 1990s, SoftBank had grown into a diversified technology company with interests spanning software distribution, publishing, and trade shows.

In 1994, SoftBank went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, raising capital that Son would deploy in an aggressive series of acquisitions and investments. The New York Times profiled Son in 1995 as "a Japanese gambler" who had "hit the jackpot," noting his rapid accumulation of technology-related businesses and his appetite for risk-taking in pursuit of scale.

Expansion into Telecommunications and Internet

The mid-to-late 1990s marked a period of dramatic expansion for SoftBank under Son's leadership. He made a series of investments in internet-related businesses, positioning SoftBank at the center of the emerging digital economy. Son acquired stakes in numerous technology companies, including significant investments in Yahoo! and other early internet firms. His strategy was characterized by making large, concentrated bets on companies and sectors he believed would define the future of technology.

Son's most celebrated investment came in 2000, when he committed approximately $20 million to a then-little-known Chinese e-commerce startup called Alibaba Group, founded by Jack Ma. This investment, which many observers considered speculative at the time, would eventually become one of the most profitable venture capital investments in history. By the time of Alibaba's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014, SoftBank's stake had grown to a valuation of approximately $50 billion — later reaching roughly $75 billion. By 2018, SoftBank's 27 percent stake in Alibaba was reported to be worth $132 billion, including additional purchases of Alibaba stock made after the initial investment.

The dot-com bubble burst of 2000–2001, however, inflicted staggering losses on Son and SoftBank. As technology stocks plummeted worldwide, the value of SoftBank's shares fell precipitously. Son lost more than $59 billion in personal wealth during the dot-com crash — a figure that for many years represented the largest individual loss of wealth in history. Rather than retreating, Son continued to pursue aggressive investment strategies, eventually recovering and expanding SoftBank's portfolio over the subsequent decades.

In Japan, Son also built SoftBank into a major telecommunications operator. SoftBank acquired Vodafone Japan in 2006, entering the mobile phone market and eventually becoming one of Japan's three largest mobile carriers. Under Son's direction, SoftBank was among the first Japanese carriers to offer the iPhone, securing a partnership with Apple Inc. that proved instrumental in driving subscriber growth.

Arm Holdings Acquisition

In September 2016, SoftBank completed its acquisition of Arm Holdings, the British semiconductor and software design company, for approximately £24 billion ($32 billion). The deal was one of the largest-ever acquisitions of a European technology company and reflected Son's conviction that Arm's chip architecture would be central to the growth of the Internet of Things and mobile computing. Son assumed the chairmanship of Arm Holdings following the acquisition.

The acquisition underscored Son's long-term approach to technology investing. In an interview with The Economist, Son's strategy was described as reflecting a "messianic streak" — a willingness to make enormous bets on what he perceived as transformative technological shifts, even when the immediate financial logic was unclear to outside observers.

SoftBank Vision Fund

In 2017, Son launched the SoftBank Vision Fund, a technology-focused venture capital fund with approximately $100 billion in committed capital — making it the largest technology investment fund in history at the time of its formation. The fund drew investment from sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi, as well as from SoftBank itself and other partners.

The Vision Fund invested in a wide range of technology companies across sectors including ride-hailing, coworking, autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and financial technology. Notable investments included stakes in Uber, WeWork, DoorDash, Slack Technologies, and numerous other startups. The sheer scale of the fund's investments — often deploying hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars into individual companies — reshaped the venture capital landscape and gave Son enormous influence over the global technology industry. Fast Company described Son as "the most powerful person in Silicon Valley" in recognition of his outsized impact on technology startup funding.

However, the Vision Fund's portfolio experienced significant challenges. Several high-profile investments, most notably WeWork, saw their valuations decline sharply. WeWork's failed 2019 IPO attempt became emblematic of concerns about inflated startup valuations in the Vision Fund era. A second fund, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, was launched subsequently, but both funds experienced periods of substantial losses, drawing criticism of Son's investment approach and the risks associated with concentrated bets on unproven business models.

In a 2017 interview on The David Rubenstein Show on Bloomberg Television, Son discussed his investment philosophy and his long-term vision for technology's role in society.

Transformation of SoftBank into an Investment Holding Company

Under Son's leadership, SoftBank Group Corp. gradually transformed from an operating telecommunications and technology company into primarily an investment holding company. This shift was formalized during the late 2010s and early 2020s, as SoftBank increasingly defined its identity through its portfolio of technology investments rather than its domestic telecom operations. SoftBank's Japanese telecommunications business was spun off as a separate publicly listed entity, SoftBank Corp., in 2018, while the parent SoftBank Group Corp. focused on investment management activities.

Artificial Intelligence and Recent Investments

By the mid-2020s, Son had pivoted SoftBank's strategic focus emphatically toward artificial intelligence. He articulated a vision of SoftBank becoming what he described as "the World's No. 1 ASI Platform Provider," referring to artificial superintelligence.

In late 2025, SoftBank liquidated the remainder of its $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia to fund investments in OpenAI and other AI ventures. Son publicly stated that he was "crying" over the sale of the Nvidia shares, acknowledging the stock's strong performance, but insisted that the AI sector's potential justified the reallocation of capital.

Son also pursued large-scale infrastructure projects related to AI. In December 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that Son was planning a series of sprawling industrial parks in the United States — described as "Trump Industrial Parks" — seeking to deploy hundreds of billions of dollars in capital linked to the Japan–U.S. trade deal. Reports also indicated that Son had considered acquiring a major U.S. data center company for approximately $50 billion before ultimately dropping the plan.

In early 2026, Son declared that access to artificial superintelligence should be considered "almost a human right," a statement that accompanied a 10 percent rise in SoftBank's share price following an upbeat earnings forecast and strong performance from Arm Holdings.

Personal Life

Masayoshi Son is of Zainichi Korean heritage, a fact he has publicly discussed on multiple occasions. He chose to adopt the Korean reading of his family name — Son — rather than continue using the Japanese surname Yasumoto, a decision that carried significant social implications in Japan, where Zainichi Koreans have historically faced discrimination. Son has said that he revealed his Korean roots in part to inspire young people confronting ethnic prejudice in Japan.

Son became a naturalized Japanese citizen. He is married and has children, though he has generally maintained a degree of privacy about his family life. In December 2025, media coverage noted that one of Son's daughters attracted public attention when she was mentioned in connection with Spiber, a Japanese unicorn company, marking an unusual instance of his family entering public discourse.

Son is known for his philanthropic activities. Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he donated approximately 10 billion yen (roughly $120 million) from his personal wealth to relief efforts, one of the largest individual donations in Japan's history.

Recognition

Masayoshi Son has received numerous accolades and recognitions throughout his career. In 2013, Forbes magazine placed him 45th on its list of the World's Most Powerful People. In 2017, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year at The Asian Awards.

Son was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in AI list in both 2024 and 2025, reflecting his aggressive pivot of SoftBank toward artificial intelligence investments and his public advocacy for the transformative potential of AI and artificial superintelligence.

As of May 2025, Son ranked 65th on the Forbes list of The World's Billionaires. He has been described by Fast Company as "the most powerful person in Silicon Valley" for his influence over technology startup funding through the SoftBank Vision Fund. The Straits Times profiled him as "the crazy guy who bet on the future," highlighting both his spectacular losses during the dot-com crash and his subsequent recovery and continued risk-taking.

Legacy

Masayoshi Son's career has been defined by a willingness to make concentrated, large-scale bets on technology companies and sectors he believes will shape the future. His early investment in Alibaba remains a touchstone of venture capital history, demonstrating the extraordinary returns possible from patient, high-conviction investing in transformative companies. At the same time, his losses during the dot-com crash — more than $59 billion in personal wealth — and the mixed results of the SoftBank Vision Funds illustrate the risks inherent in his approach.

Son's creation of the SoftBank Vision Fund fundamentally altered the landscape of technology venture capital. By deploying capital at a scale previously unseen in venture investing, the Vision Fund influenced startup valuations, competitive dynamics, and fundraising norms across the global technology industry. The fund's investments in companies like Uber, WeWork, and numerous other startups made SoftBank a central node in the technology ecosystem, though the uneven performance of these investments also sparked debate about whether such concentrated, large-scale venture investing serves the long-term interests of the companies and markets involved.

Son's public acknowledgment of his Zainichi Korean heritage has been noted as culturally significant in Japan, where members of the Korean minority have often concealed their ethnic background to avoid discrimination. His willingness to discuss this aspect of his identity publicly has been credited with contributing to broader conversations about ethnic diversity and inclusion in Japanese society.

As of the mid-2020s, Son's strategic emphasis on artificial intelligence — including his stated ambition for SoftBank to become the world's leading platform provider for artificial superintelligence — positions him at the center of ongoing debates about the development, deployment, and governance of AI technologies.