Masa (Masayoshi Son)

Extracted Attributes

• Award

  Entrepreneur of the Year at The Asian Awards (2017)

• Ethnicity

  Zainichi Korean

• Full Name

  Masayoshi Son

• Birth Name

  Masayoshi Yasumoto

• Occupation

  Entrepreneur, Investor, Philanthropist

• Nationality

  Japanese

• Recognition

  Time 100 AI list (2024)

• Date of Birth

  1957-08-11

• Place of Birth

  Tosu, Saga Prefecture, Japan

• Net Worth Status

  Billionaire (as of May 2025)

• Forbes World's Most Powerful People Ranking

  45th (2013)

Timeline

• Born Masayoshi Yasumoto in Tosu, Saga Prefecture, Japan. (Source: summary, web_search_results)

  1957-08-11

• Traveled to the United States to study, advised by Fujita Den to study computer science. (Source: web_search_results)

  1973

• Founded Nihon SoftBank (currently SoftBank Group Corp.), serving as Chairman & CEO. (Source: web_search_results)

  1981-09

• SoftBank entered the publishing business with the launch of Oh! PC and Oh! MZ magazines. (Source: web_search_results)

  1982-05

• Made an early $20 million investment in Alibaba Group. (Source: summary)

  2000

• SoftBank shares plummeted during the dot-com crash, resulting in over $59 billion in losses. (Source: wikipedia)

  2000

• Became Director of Alibaba.com Corporation (now Alibaba Group Holding Limited). (Source: web_search_results)

  2005-10

• Became Chairman of the Board, President & CEO of Vodafone K.K. (now SoftBank Corp.). (Source: web_search_results)

  2006-04

• Ranked 45th on Forbes magazine's list of the World's Most Powerful People. (Source: summary)

  2013

• Became Chairman and Executive Director of ARM Holdings plc. (Source: web_search_results)

  2016-09

• Named Entrepreneur of the Year at The Asian Awards. (Source: summary)

  2017

• Became Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. (Source: web_search_results)

  2017-06

• Became Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. (Source: web_search_results)

  2020-11

• Became Board Director, Founder of SoftBank Corp. (Source: web_search_results)

  2021-04

• Became Chairman and Director of Arm Holdings plc. (Source: web_search_results)

  2023-08

• Included in the Time 100 AI list. (Source: summary)

  2024

• Listed among the world's billionaires by Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. (Source: summary)

  2025-05

• Involved in discussions regarding the $500 billion "Stargate Project" for AI infrastructure, a partnership between OpenAI and SoftBank. (Source: summary, related_documents)

  Ongoing

Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son (Japanese: 孫 正義, romanized: Son Masayoshi, Korean: 손정의, romanized: Son Jeong-ui, born Masayoshi Yasumoto, Japanese: 安本 正義, romanized: Yasumoto Masayoshi; August 11, 1957) is a Japanese entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. A Zainichi Korean, he is the founder, representative director, corporate officer, chairman and chief executive of SoftBank Group (SBG), a technology-focused investment holding company, as well as chairman of UK-based Arm Holdings and US-based Stargate LLC. 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. 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. SoftBank's 27 percent stake in Alibaba was worth $132 billion in 2018, including additional purchases of the stock since 2000. 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, sometimes resulting in major losses, particularly with the first and second SoftBank Vision Funds. In 2013, Son was placed 45th on the Forbes magazine's list of the World's Most Powerful People. In 2017 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year at The Asian Awards. As of May 2025, Son ranks 65th on the Forbes's list of The World's Billionaires and is No. 177 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He had for many years the distinction of being the person who had lost the most money in history (more than $59bn during the dot-com crash of 2000 alone, when his SoftBank shares plummeted), a feat surpassed by Elon Musk in the following decades. Son was included in Time 100 AI list in 2024.

Web Search Results

• Masayoshi Son - Wikipedia

  Masayoshi Son (Japanese: 孫 正義, romanized: _Son Masayoshi_, Korean: 손정의, romanized: _Son Jeong-ui_, born Masayoshi Yasumoto, Japanese: 安本 正義, romanized: _Yasumoto Masayoshi_; August 11, 1957) is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist from Japan. A Zainichi Korean, he is the founder, representative director, corporate officer, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group (SBG).[\[2\]]( a technology-focused investment holding company, as well as chairman of UK-based Arm Holdings and US-based Stargate [...] Masayoshi Son was born Masayoshi Yasumoto[\[23\]]( on August 11, 1957 in Tosu, Saga Prefecture to Zainichi Korean parents.[\[25\]]( Son's grandfather, Son Jong-kyung a native of Daegu, moved to Japan during the Japanese colonial period where he worked as a miner.[\[29\]]( Son's father, Son Sam-heon, raised pigs and chickens, and illegally built the family home on land that was owned by the Japanese National Railways, which caused them trouble with the authorities.[\[30\]]( His father started an [...] The native form of this personal name is _Son Masayoshi_. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals. | Masayoshi Son | | --- | | 孫 正義 | | Image 4_on_July_11,_2008.jpg) Son in 2008 | | Born | Masayoshi Yasumoto (安本 正義)[\[1\]]( (1957-08-11) 11 August 1957 (age 67) Tosu, Saga, Japan

• Son Masayoshi | Biography & Facts | Britannica Money

  Britannica Money Lucio Tan al-Walīd ibn Ṭalāl ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd Iwasaki Yatarō # Son Masayoshi Lucio Tan al-Walīd ibn Ṭalāl ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd Iwasaki Yatarō Son Masayoshi (born August 31, 1957, Saga prefecture, Kyushu, Japan) is a Japanese entrepreneur who served as chairman and CEO of Softbank Corp, a media and telecommunications company he founded in 1981. [...] Son was a third-generation Korean with Japanese citizenship. Before traveling to the United States to study in 1973, he repeatedly tried to meet Fujita Den, president of McDonald’s Company (Japan), Ltd., to seek his advice. When they finally met, Fujita advised Son to study computer science. Nearly 20 years later the two met again. By that time, Son had become a leading distributor of computer software and related publications in Japan and was president of Softbank Corp. Fujita was deeply moved [...] of the Japanese broadcasting world. Softbank and News Corporation sold their share in 1997.

• Biography: Masayoshi Son | SoftBank Group Corp.

  | | | | --- | --- | | Sept. 1981 | Founded Nihon SoftBank (currently SoftBank Group Corp.), Chairman & CEO | | Oct. 2005 | Director, Alibaba.com Corporation (currently Alibaba Group Holding Limited) | | Apr. 2006 | Chairman of the Board, President & CEO, Vodafone K.K. (currently SoftBank Corp.) | | Sept. 2016 | Chairman and Executive Director, ARM Holdings plc | | June 2017 | Chairman & CEO, SoftBank Group Corp. | [...] Since founding SBG in September 1981, Mr. Masayoshi Son has been at the helm of the Group’s management for 42 years, achieving remarkable growth for the Group through advancement into the Internet, telecommunications and AI businesses, investment in the world’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Limited, acquisition of UK-based ARM Holdings plc and founding SoftBank Vision Fund, among other efforts. [...] | Nov. 2020 | Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman & CEO, SoftBank Group Corp. (to present) | | Apr. 2021 | Board Director, Founder, SoftBank Corp. (to present) | | Aug. 2023 | Chairman and Director, Arm Holdings plc (to present) |

• 8 Lessons from the Career of Softbank's Masayoshi Son

  Few characters are more enigmatic or misunderstood than Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank, the Japanese media technology conglomerate. In Japan and in western media, he is cast as a dreamer, financial engineer, and speculator — an object of suspicion who has risked financial ruin more than once in a five-decade career. ## Partner Center Explore HBR HBR Store About HBR Manage My Account Follow HBR Harvard Business Publishing: [...] Copyright ©2025 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.

• SoftBank Group - Wikipedia

  ### Founding and early years [edit] SoftBank was founded in September 1981 as SOFTBANK Corp by then-24-year-old Masayoshi Son, initially as a software distributor. The company entered the publishing business in May 1982 with the launches of the Oh! PC and Oh! MZ magazines, about NEC and Sharp computers respectively.( Oh!PC had a circulation of 140,000 copies by 1989.( It would go on to become Japan's largest publisher of computer and technology magazines and trade shows. [...] The company is known for the leadership of its controversial( founder and largest shareholder Masayoshi Son.( Its investee companies, subsidiaries and divisions, including several unprofitable unicorns "Unicorn (finance)"),( operate in robotics, artificial intelligence, software, logistics, transportation, biotechnology, robotic process automation, proptech, real estate, hospitality, broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, information technology, finance, media and marketing, and [...] 2006: Vodafone officially announced it had agreed to sell Vodafone Japan (Vodafone K.K.) to SoftBank for a total of 1.75 trillion Japanese yen (approx US$15.1 billion) in one of the largest M&A transactions in Japan to date 2006: SoftBank and Vodafone K.K. jointly announced, that the name of the company will be changed to a "new, easy-to-understand and familiar" company name and brand. Masayoshi Son became CEO and Representative Director of Vodafone K.K.