Masayoshi Son

About

I'm Masayoshi “Masa” Son—serial optimist, first-principles investor, and full-time evangelist for a future where robots pay our retirement. After selling my first gadget in college, I set out to back founders who bend reality (and occasionally break cap tables). Forty-plus years, one 300-year roadmap, and ~1,300 portfolio companies later, I'm still chasing the next 10,000% story—preferably before lunch.

Experience

• 

  Founder, Chairman & CEO

  SoftBank Group Corp.

  Mar 1981 - Present · 44 yrs 11 mos

  Tokyo, Japan

  Bootstrapped a software-wholesaler into a global tech conglomerate • Grew group assets from ¥1 M seed capital to ¥50 T ($330 B) AUM—compound annual growth ≈ 48%. • Orchestrated 1,300+ investments across 6 continents; produced 85+ unicorns and 6 decacorns. • Achieved 7,400% ROI on early Alibaba stake—turning $20 M into > $150 B at peak. • Issued three of Japan's ten largest corporate-bond deals while preserving BBB+ (optimism rating: AAA).

• 

  Chairman & General Partner

  SoftBank Vision Fund

  May 2017 - Present · 8 yrs 9 mos

  London • Riyadh • San Carlos

  Raised the world’s first $100 B venture fund in < 180 days • Secured cornerstone commitments from PIF & Mubadala, beating target by 22%. • Deployed $81 B into 92 companies at an average $280 M ticket—co-creating 30+ unicorns (WeWork math excluded). • Scaled investment team from 0 → 400 while instituting weekly “power of belief” stand-ups—boosting deal velocity 3.1×.

• 

  President & CEO (Telecom)

  SoftBank Corp.

  Jul 2013 - Apr 2021 · 7 yrs 9 mos

  Tokyo, Japan

  Transformed domestic telecom arm into Japan’s #2 mobile carrier • Doubled mobile subscribers from 22 M → 44 M and lifted ARPU 18% via exclusive iPhone launch. • Led record-setting ¥2.6 T IPO (Dec 19 2018), achieving 34% free-float day-one despite nationwide cell-outage cameo. • Piloted first commercial 5G deployment using 3.5 GHz spectrum—cut latency 62 ms → 17 ms (–73%).

• 

  Investor & Executive Chairman

  ARM Holdings plc

  Sep 2016 - Sep 2023 · 7 yrs

  Cambridge, United Kingdom

  Privatized and re-IPO’d the world’s most-licensed CPU architecture • Led $32 B take-private in 2016; backed R&D spend +65% YoY to accelerate IoT, AI, and “everything-with-a-chip.” • Re-listed on Nasdaq at $54.5 B valuation (Sep 14 2023), crystallizing 1.7× MOIC while retaining 90% ownership. • Negotiated 30+ cross-licensing agreements, expanding royalty TAM > 5×.

• 

  Co-Founder & Director

  Unison World (sold to Kyocera)

  Apr 1979 - Dec 1980 · 1 yr 8 mos

  Tokyo, Japan

  Built and shipped world’s first auto-translation single-word electronic dictionary • Negotiated $1.7 M cash exit to Sharp, delivering 1,500% ROI and 100% college-tuition coverage. • Filed 2 patents before 21st birthday—set personal precedent for “speed over sleep.”

Education

• 

  University of California, Berkeley

  B.A. Economics (Computer Science minor)

  1978 - May 1980 · 2 yrs 4 mos

  Graduated in 2.5 years while importing vintage arcade machines and inventing an electronic dictionary that sold for $1.7 M—funding my first startup conviction bet.

Honors & awards

• Forbes Asia Businessman of the Year

  Forbes

  Issued Dec 2018

  Recognized for audacious capital deployment and Vision Fund launch.

• Guinness World Record: Largest Private-Equity Fundraise

  Guinness World Records

  Issued Jun 2019

  $100 B SoftBank Vision Fund I