Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma, however, is not in favour of a strategic investor coming in via secondary share sale. [29], Founder, CEO and largest shareholder of SoftBank, by December 2022, Masayoshi Son had a stake of 34.2% in the company. The buy price, initially set at $40bn (cash and Nvidia shares) when first announced in September 2020, had risen closer to an estimated $66bn by 2022 given the intervening hike in Nvidia's stock that would make this deal the biggest deal in the semiconductor market. in Economics in 1980,[26] and started a video game company called Unison World in Oakland, CA. Then Son decided to take matters into his own hands . [83] In August 2022, Masayoshi Son said he was embarrassed and ashamed when asked to talk about the way he had run the SoftBank Vision Fund[84][85] and Barron's characterized the fund as a failed experiment[86] while The Wall Street Journal called SoftBank a big loser"[31] and Bloomberg elaborated on Masayoshi Sons broken business model. . As of December2022[update], Son ranks 67th on the Forbes list of The World's Billionaires 2022,[12] despite having had for many years the distinction of being the person who had lost the most money in history (more than $59bn[13] during the dot com crash of 2000 alone, when his SoftBank shares plummeted),[14] a feat surpassed by other billionaires[15][16][17] in the following decades due to the volatile nature of the stock market, the shortcomings of financial risk and unavoidable changes in asset valuation. The son of FC Barcelona legend Ronaldinho, Joao Mendes, still hasn't officially signed for the club according to a report. He had invested $20 million in Jack Ma's Alibaba back in 2000 when it was a young Chinese startup company[68] although regrettably passing up early opportunities to invest in both Amazon and Tesla. Sons investment company Softbank owns 29.5% stake in Alibaba which worth $ 108.7 billion in 2018. Based on over twenty years of in-depth interviews and study, Atsuo Inoue brings Son's story to life in this . Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank, left, speaks while Jack Ma, former chairman of . ", "The biggest and fastest net-worth losses of our time", "Elon Musk becomes first person ever to lose $200 billion", "Elon Musk breaks world record for 'worst loss of fortune,' Guinness says", "How Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and the World's 500 Richest Billionaires Lost $1.4 Trillion in a Year", "No. Son is a 3rd generation Zainichi Korean. Masayoshi Sons Softbank had invested in Snapdeal in 2013, but the investment didnt quite pay off. Son likes to say he is preparing for the day when all sectors of society and industry will be redefined by super-intelligent machines. Note: VirtualGlobetrotting is an entertainment website is and is not associated with this post, location or person. They relented Son was allowed into Fujitas office, and he had a 15 minute chat with his young fan. Its launched a $100 billion Vision Fund, through which it aims to steer the course of technological development for the planet. Most people still admire his track record, and the amazing success he has had despite these setbacks.. But trouble was around the corner. Masayoshi Son is a Japan-based Millionaire, a tech entrepreneur, and an investor. Barnard wasnt the only one to have an anxiety-inducing moment in the house. Instead, Son focused on how new modes of transportation will shape the design and construction of cities. How billionaire Masa Son is shaking up Silicon Valley By Seth Fiegerman Not far from the storied venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road, there's a palatial estate where Masayoshi Son, Silicon. SoftBank's investment vehicle, the $100 billion Vision Fund, invests in emerging technologies like [] The first ever English language biography of Masayoshi Son, Japan's foremost IT revolutionary and SoftBank's founder, chairman and CEO. The youngest of them is the founder of Gungho Online Entertainment, a Japanese video game developer company. [91] He lives in Tokyo in a three-story mansion that is valued at $50 million and that has a golf range with technology to mimic the weather conditions and temperature of the worlds top golf courses. [82] SoftBank's bad timing-prone, impulsive investment decisions regarding previously overhyped and consequently overvalued startups like Klarna, had plunged in value while some other investment firms had even been able to cash in before the startups' comedown to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. [89], Son met his wife, Masami Ohno, the daughter of a prominent Japanese doctor, while both were students at the University of California, Berkeley. Son said, I probably would have become much more conservative, just as other Japanese. He is known as the third generation of Zainichi Korean. He often quotes Yoda, passionately prepares for the singularity, and has been known to make big bets on companies based upon what he once called his sense of smell. He plays an active role in SoftBanks investment decisions, and Aron recalled being told that Son has final say on each Vision Fund deal. You cant have a visionary strategy unless you know the details, Gundersen said. After graduating from the University of California, he started a Unison in Oakland which was later handed over to a Japanese Electronic company Kyocera. Masayoshi Son is a Japanese Entrepreneur, Investor, and Philanthropist. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. Son has always had a penchant for making deals. Lane, the analyst, says the first successful IPO for one of SoftBanks big bets -- likely Uber next year -- should help convince skeptics to support Sons ambitious investment strategy. He effortlessly straddles the Japanese and Western business worlds, a quality that stood him in good stead while making business deals with his foreign counterparts. 30 photos Located at 6405 Wenonga Road in Mission Hills, Kan., the 12,360-square-foot home includes 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a custom kitchen, giant wine cellar, spa facilities and a master bedroom. Son is the founder and CEO of the holding company SoftBank. Son got his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley. Others found themselves in a small side room illuminated by chandeliers waiting for the meeting to begin. and Vodafone have proved sound ventures. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. under which this service is provided to you. Yet, Yahoo! Softbankbecame the primary shareholder in Yahoo, and set up Yahoo Japan, its Japanese subsidiary. Harry said the royal family had shown no willingness to reconcile with him and even accused them of not liking Meghan from the beginning before they even had a chance to know her. A grandson of South Korean immigrants to Japan, Son founded SoftBank in 1981 as a distributor of computer software. Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of California, Berkeley. China's Ant group and Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank, two of the largest investors in Paytm's parent One97 Communications, are looking at reducing their holding in the fintech major. Its persistence like this thats helped the young fan become the most influential player in Indias startup ecosystem. It turned out I was more right than I thought.. our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. Not everyone celebrates this. The Vision Funds have invested in over 100 companies, including ride-share firm Grab, Korean e-commerce leader Coupang and India's Paytm. White House. In addition to this incredible work, Masayoshi also serves as a director of Sprint Corporation, Yahoo! This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. The narrative of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has a happier ending, albeit after more ups and downs than the wooden roller-coaster at the PNE. Near the top of that list is WeWork, an eight-year-oldstartup that provides trendycoworking spaces in 80cities worldwide. It surprised me, Mozer told CNN recently. And all of his investments can be traced back to the pay-out he received from US computing firm Sharp almost 40 years ago after selling one of his . Startup founders fortunate enough to earn an audience with Son, a 60-year old billionaire with a global network and vast funds, recall being led down a hallway lined with artwork to make the pitch of a lifetime. Preeminent community for API creatives, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders. Mr. Lifes too short to do anything small, he says. It sold in 2012 for $117 million to SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son. He is widely reported to have seen his paper wealth fall by $70 billion in 2000. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Investors in Son's Vision Funds include Apple, Qualcomm, Foxconn, the family office of billionaire Larry. By the late 90s, Son had invested in several tech companies, includingKozmo.com,More.com, SportsBrain and even Webvan. Follow the community book club for monthly book picks that help APIs better understand their identity and culture. He has been a wise investor - his early stakes in computing, then brands like Microsoft, Yahoo! After gorging on a record 183 deals last year, Masayoshi Sons SoftBank has come down to earth amid deteriorating economic conditions that have erased billions of dollars from the valuations of technology startups. "What did Masayoshi Son invent?", the answer would . 2023 Forbes Media LLC. Arcade games were just taking off in the late 70s, and Sons plan was lucrative he reportedly made his first million dollars through his little scheme. You dont have to look at me. At a time when most CEOs look no further ahead than the next quarter, Son forges ahead with a 300-year planfor his company. Everyone is trying to figure out how it might impact their subset of the market.. Son was a 3rd generation "Zainichi Korean," he naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 1990. Sons fund would go on to lead a $200 million investment round in Plenty after the meeting. It was a crushing blow, but Son was not one to be deterred. For the year ended March 2022, the two Vision Funds reported a $27 billion loss. Masayoshi Son's house. Sprint Corp. Chairman Masayoshi Son recently bought a house in the Kansas City area, a sign the Japanese billionaire will be spending more time near the companys headquarters. Son also owns the title of chairman of UK-based ARM Holdings. I just want tosee his face. His League of Legends live gaming streams, Valorant plays and Super Mario 64 speedruns with his own commentary have helped him garner massive popularity. The fund, backed by the likes of Apple and Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund, has already pumped $30 billion into companies including Uber, WeWork, and Slack. His youngest brother, Taizo Son, is a serial entrepreneur and investor, having founded GungHo Online Entertainment and the venture capital firm Mistletoe. Masayoshi Son is also the CEO and Chairman of SoftBank. As of August 2014, Forbes ranks him as the richest Japanese and sixth-richest Asian, worth an estimated $17.5 billion. Snapdeal was floundering at the beginning of this year, but Son was adamant on winning a slice of Indias lucrative e-commerce pie. Aug 12, 2022. Masayoshi Son, the tech tycoon who has spent billions of Saudi money, is staying away from the kingdom's major investment summit this week. I just want tosee his face. How perfect, Barnard said. Masayoshi Son is the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank, Asia's leading tech conglomerate with interests in telecom, internet, e-commerce, online gaming, broadband, media, etc. After returning to Japan from USA, Masayoshi used a Korean surname instead to inspire children of Korean ethnicity residing in Japan. Theres no one not talking about them. Due to this, he holds the second position on the list of Japans richest people. Masayoshi Son is going to bolster the coffers of his SoftBank Group with a $34 billion gain from cutting its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. [79][80][81] In 2022, SoftBank Vision Fund posted a record 3.5 trillion yen loss ($27.4 billion) for its financial year ended on 31 March 2022 as the valuation of its stock portfolio plummeted. When he was 16, Masayoshi Son decided he wanted to meet Den Fujita, one of Japans most famous entrepreneurs. His second business idea was to import second-hand Japanese video game and install it in dormitories and restaurants. [45], Established in 2017, SoftBank Group's investment vehicle, the $100 billion Vision Fund, was intended to invest in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and the internet of things. He also owns a house worth $ 117 million in Woodside, California. Mozer patented the device, and together they made $1 million (in todays money) selling their invention to Sharp. It made them face bad consequences. Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, said to shareholders on Wednesday that he wants to be viewed as a 21 st century Rothschild. [2], Since Son founded SoftBank in 1981, he has made many investments, but the vast majority of those deals failed, and his reputation as an investor rests almost solely on his $20 million investment in Alibaba Group in 2000, a stake that was worth $130 billion in 2018. You cant argue with the fact that hes been successful in the past, Kaplan said. He moved to California for studies where he completed high school at the age of 16. He doesnt say much. Disclaimer. SoftBanks C.E.O. Also read-PhonePe | A Leading digital Payment application in the trending market. It made him inclined toward technology and he later became a tech entrepreneur and an investor. Hes a very aggressive, risk-taking, entrepreneurial person. This debt on side deals he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to boost his compensation, as losses mounted at its core Vision Fund venture capital arm, sparked controversy due to corporate governance concerns, but Son insisted that there wasnt any conflict of interest. Matt Barnard remembers time moving slowly in that side room as he awaited his chance to convince a man he described as larger than life to bet on his indoor farming startup, Plenty. Masayoshi Sons Softbank had invested in Snapdeal in 2013, but the investment didnt quite pay off. Experts estimate that it's the most wealth lost by an individual ever, and Softbank's shares lost 99% of their value. [20], Son graduated from Berkeley with a B.A. anonymously (anonymous users cannot post links). Japan's second richest man and founder of Softbank is the owner of this Woodside, California home costing approximately $115 million. Theinternet craze propelled him to some extraordinary heights for three short days, he become the richest man in the world. By the late 90s, Son had, Masa Son (left) with Yahoo founder Jerry Yang (right), Alibaba, of course, has ended up becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world, and Softbanks stake has now grown to an, What has led to Sons sustained success? In the past, that meant telecoms and internet firms. Its certainly not news that one investor can push another aside, but most of them cant brandish a $100 billion checkbook. Billionaire Masayoshi Son founded Softbank, a Japanese holding conglomerate, in 1981 and has continued to serve as its chairman & CEO. .css-16c7pto-SnippetSignInLink{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;}Sign In, Copyright 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. I just think $100 billion is a bridge too far., Son laid out his plan for crossing that bridge during the shareholder meeting in June. In 1981, he returned to Japan, and set up Softbank with two part-time workers and a small office. SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son increased the amount of stock pledged as collateral to financial institutions to 175.25 million shares, or about 35% of his total stake in the Japanese . Son bet so heavily on online ventures that people took to calling him Mr. [69] In addition, he raised his global profile as stock investor since starting Softbank Vision Fund in 2017, creating an unprecedented investment vehicle of almost $100 billion to back technology startups. In July 2016, Softbank purchased a European technology company- Arm Holdings. The price of the acquisition was around $ 34 billion. Once the world's biggest investor in startups, SoftBank reported that it had invested just $300 million into startups, down more than 90% from last year. And he has an idea what Sons visionary strategy is. 9,452 stories Tesla Inc. 7,811 stories US Federal Reserve. He worked in Japan as a miner. and/or its affiliates. Continue reading your article witha WSJ membership, Already a member? [31] Son's holding company SoftBank owns 29.5% of Alibaba, which is worth around $108.7 billion as of 23 October 2018. [1] At age 16, Son moved from Japan to California and lived with his friends and family in South San Francisco. Zainichi Koreans are ethnic Koreans with permanent residency or citizenship in Japan. 2021 Son resigned from Alibaba board in June 2020. Multiple investors said startups may feel pressure to accept SoftBanks funding regardless of whether they want it, simply to prevent SoftBank from handing that money to a rival and upending the market. This company, he told shareholders, is ready to become next Alibaba. The choice to namedrop his most famous investment may say as much about the pressure on Son to find yet another Alibaba-sized opportunity as it does about his actual enthusiasm for WeWork. [40][41], In response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, Masayoshi Son criticized the nuclear industry for creating "the problem that worries Japanese the most today"[42] and engaged in investing in a nationwide solar power network for Japan. It has a technologically advanced golf range with the same weather and temperature as worlds leading Golf courses. 5,285 stories Apple. | Although Softbanks Yahoo! 12. cache 6h 0m 4,841 stories Al Jazeera . David Armstrong , EXAMINER MEDIA WRITER. Masayoshi Son Yahoo was Jerry Yang's baby. Placing diverse leaders on the Boards and Advisories of privately-held and newly-listed companies alongside the top multicultural funds. Youre seeing him own the infrastructure for the future., SoftBank takes on Apple and Samsung with new payment app, GM and Softbank are putting $3 billion into self-driving cars, SoftBank CEO gives up control to make Sprint's merger with T-Mobile happen, SoftBank wants to build the world's biggest solar project in Saudi Arabia. Masayoshi Son is now personally on the hook for about $4.7 billion on side deals he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to boost his compensation, after mounting . He is a man of few words, Aron says. The dotcom bubble exploded and affected businesses across the world. and Alibaba, of which SoftBank reportedly owns nearly 30%. Kiyoshi OtaBloomberg/Getty Images. Masayoshi Son (Japanese: , romanized:Son Masayoshi, Korean: , romanized:Son Jeong-ui) (born 11 August 1957) is a Japanese billionaire technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Son then invested billions in both of Snapdeals competitors, Paytm and Flipkart, ensuring that hed havea stake inany company that would eventually win Indias e-commerce race. At the suggestion of Japan's Mc Donald's president Den Fujita Son studied computer science. He raised another 1.5 million this way. Scott Sandell, managing partner at New Enterprise Associates, said he was very close to sealing a $30 million investment in a startupat a $180 million valuation. Still, he does meet with the CEO of every company SoftBank invests in, according to a longtime SoftBank employee speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal company matters. Son at a 2016 press conference/Getty Images. The Embrace was unveiled on Friday in Boston, where Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King met, and the abstract sculpture quickly earned both praise and derision. In July, he sold a 9,400-square-foot house at 2060 North Bay Road for $32.3 million. I have Augusta, Pebble Beach while I can hit the ball with my drivers and irons to the computer-simulated course on the screen. He was born in 1957 in Japan, the son of Korean immigrants. More than a decade after the Dot Com bubble burst, SoftBank reaped the financial rewards of the early Alibaba deal. 45: Masayoshi Son - In Photos: The World's Most Powerful People: 2013", "SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son: A 'crazy' billionaire obsessed with the future", "MEDIA; an Entrepreneurial Exception Rides the Internet in Japan", "The David Rubenstein Show: Masayoshi Son", "Japanese-Style Entrepreneurship: An Interview with Softbank'S CEO, Masayoshi Son", "CEO revealed Korean roots to inspire youths facing bigotry in Japan", "SoftBank's Masayoshi Son quietly lifts stake to 34%, edging toward buyout", "SoftBank Emerges as a Big Loser of the Tech Downturn. SoftBank has further accumulated shares in Sprint to about 84% ownership. Son repeatedly called Fujitas assistants, asking for a meeting, but his requests were ignored successful businessmen dont take time out of their busy schedules to meet eager 16-year-olds.