Masayoshi Son: Founder and CEO of SoftBank Group
Masayoshi Son, popularly known as Mase Son, is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank Group, a Japanese conglomerate conglomerate and one of the largest technology companies in the world. He is also one of the most influential business leaders in Asia and a major player in the global technology sector. On the Forbes 2021 Billionaires List, Son is ranked as the world’s 17th richest person, with an estimated net worth of $22.2 billion. In 2020, Son was ranked number one on the Nikkei’s list of Japan’s 50 richest people, with a net worth of $17.9 billion. In 2020, he donated $9.9 billion to the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Early Life and Education
Masayoshi Son was born on August 11, 1957 in Tosu, Japan to South Korean immigrants. His father, South Korean–born Masahiro Son, was an ethnic Korean restaurateur and opera singer of Japanese descent. At the age of six months, Son moved with his family to the prosperous town of Yasu in Shiga Prefecture.
In 1978, he graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in economics. During college, he founded a software trading company, an online retailer, and an online bank. After college, he pursued his dream of becoming an entrepreneur and returned to Japan to start his own software company, SoftBank.
SoftBank’s Success
SoftBank has become a major force in the Japanese tech industry. It has a wide range of investments in the technology, media, and telecom sectors, including the SoftBank Mobile, BB Mobile, EFun, Yahoo Japan, AnGes, Missy, and Z Holdings. In 2020, the company had a market value of $108 billion and its revenue was valued at around $41 billion.
Son is loved by the media, called “Japan’s Bill Gates” and “World’s Most Powerful Man in Tech”. He is credited with revolutionizing the Japanese internet revolution in the early 2000s, through his acquisition of internet-related companies such as Yahoo Japan, which allowed ordinary Japanese people to access the internet more easily. In 2016, he acquired ARM Holdings, a semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, UK. This acquisition gave SoftBank a dominant position in the global semiconductor and software industry.
Visionary Philanthropy
In addition to being a successful businessman, Masayoshi Son is also a philanthropist. He has donated billions of dollars to promote education, eradicate poverty, and help children around the world. In 2018, he pledged to donate $192 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help refugees in the Middle East, particularly those affected by wars in Syria and Iraq.
In addition, Son has made generous donations to universities around the world. In 2015, he donated $2.2 billion to the University of California, Berkeley, the largest single donation made to any US university in history at the time. The funds will be used to support the construction of a new facility for engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence. In 2020, Son donated one billion to Silicon Valley’s Singularity University to fund academic research programs in artificial intelligence and blockchain.
Also in 2020, Son announced his intention to donate a total of $9.9 billion to the SoftBank Vision Fund, a venture capital fund owned by SoftBank and managed by Son himself. This fund was launched in 2020, and it seeks to invest in innovative technology companies that have the potential to radically transform the world, such as AI, robotics, and space exploration.
SoftBank Vision Fund’s Impact
The SoftBank Vision Fund, which has invested more than $70 billion since its launch in 2020, has had a noticeable impact on the tech industry. The fund has funded some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Uber, Slack, ByteDance, and WeWork. It also backs companies in new innovative fields, like AI and robotics. These investments have allowed these companies to spearhead revolutionary new products and services.
SoftBank Vision has also created opportunities for tech entrepreneurs and innovators. The fund’s investments have enabled many entrepreneurs to launch their own companies and to pursue their dreams.
The SoftBank Vision Fund has opened up the worldwide venture capital industry to new companies, thus allowing them to be funded quickly and with fewer restrictions than they would have faced in the past. In a world where venture capital funding is essential to get a tech company off the ground, the SoftBank Vision Fund is crucial to the success of many companies in the technology sector.
Masayoshi Son has had a major influence on the global tech industry. As the founder and CEO of SoftBank Group, he has brought the Japanese tech revolution to the world, making it easier for ordinary people to access the internet and invest in innovative companies. He is also a generous philanthropist and an inspirational leader who has opened up opportunities for tech entrepreneurs and innovators. Though his investments, Son has propelled the Innovation Age and being a major force in the global technology sector.