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Masayoshi Son

The latest news on billionaire technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, including Japanese business news and updates.

Born

11 Aug 1957

Industry

Technology, Business

Job Title

Founder, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holds a circuit board as he answers questions from members of the media at a press event in Taipei on May 21. Photo: Reuters

Semiconductors

Nvidia CEO blasts US AI chip restrictions on China as a ‘failure’

‘Power is quite cost-effective in China. And there’s plenty of land. And so the ban on H20 is not effective,’ Jensen Huang told reporters at Computex.

21 May 2025 - 4:13PMvideocam

Technology

SoftBank swings to a loss ahead of big AI infrastructure bet on Stargate Project

12 Feb 2025 - 7:22PM

Artificial intelligence

SoftBank, OpenAI tie up to develop AI for Japan as DeepSeek rises

3 Feb 2025 - 4:09PM

Artificial intelligence

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son aims to foster a new era of ‘super’ AI

Son sees a future when chips designed by SoftBank subsidiary Arm support a thriving ecosystem of robots and powerful data centres.

21 Jun 2024 - 3:54PM

SoftBank Group Corp founder, chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son, 66, says he wants to change the world before he leaves it for good. Photo: AFP

Artificial intelligence

Opinion | AI boom echoes the dotcom bubble, but not in the way you think

After the dotcom bubble burst, a glut of infrastructure looked like a mistake, but it laid the foundation for the internet’s eventual growth. Today’s AI investments may lower the cost of computing power and provide the basis for future breakthroughs, even if they precede a market correction.

5 Mar 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

Saudi Arabia

Saudi US$100 billion manufacturing fund invests in SoftBank, Dahua

The moves underscore Saudi Arabia’s commitment to transform itself from an oil-dependent economy to a powerhouse that makes money on everything from tech to metals, mining and tourism.

21 Feb 2024 - 5:16PM

Foxconn

Apple’s operating chief makes rare Taiwan visit for Foxconn gala

Jeff Williams was a guest of honour at a gala celebrating the iPhone assembler’s 50th anniversary, also attended by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Arm boss Rene Haas.

21 Feb 2024 - 1:24PM

Apple COO Jeff Williams speaks to customers at the company’s store in Palo Alto, California. Photo: Bloomberg

Millionaires and billionaires

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son adds US$4 billion to his wealth on Arm’s 192% rally

The Japanese tycoon is currently worth US$15.1 billion, compared with US$11.3 billion at the end of last year. Son is benefiting from Arm’s rally because he owns roughly a third of SoftBank, which holds 90 per cent of the UK chip designer.

13 Feb 2024 - 6:37PM

Alibaba

Japan’s SoftBank concludes run as Alibaba’s biggest shareholder

SoftBank expects to book US$8.5 billion, about 425 times the value of its initial Alibaba investment, for its 2024 financial year after divesting more than 500 million shares in the e-commerce giant.

27 Jan 2024 - 4:26PM

Alibaba

Exclusive | Jack Ma, Joe Tsai replace SoftBank as Alibaba’s largest shareholders

The combined stakes of the two co-founders eclipsed SoftBank Group, which has reduced its shares in Alibaba through a series of forward contracts.

24 Jan 2024 - 6:08PM

Joe Tsai (first left) and Jack Ma (second left) during the initial public offering of Alibaba Group Holding on the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, 2014. Photo: Reuters.

Artificial intelligence

iPhone design chief enlisted by Jony Ive, Sam Altman to work on AI devices

Legendary industrial designer Jony Ive and OpenAI’s Sam Altman are enlisting an Apple veteran to work on a new artificial intelligence hardware project, aiming to create devices with the latest capabilities.

27 Dec 2023 - 4:41PM

Artificial intelligence

Nearly all OpenAI staff threaten to go to Microsoft unless board quits

More than 700 of OpenAI's roughly 770 employees signed a letter, calling for all board members to resign and for fired CEO Sam Altman to be reinstated.

21 Nov 2023 - 4:08PM

ChatGPT and other generative AIs

Ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said to eye possible return to ChatGPT creator

A day after the OpenAI board fired him, Sam Altman was talking with the company’s executives about improving its governance structure, while discussing with some core ChatGPT researchers about starting a new artificial intelligence company.

19 Nov 2023 - 9:43PMvideocam

Softbank

WeWork saga cost SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son US$11.5 billion and his credibility

Once valued at US$47 billion, WeWork’s plunge into bankruptcy damaged the professional reputation of SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son far beyond the US$11.5 billion he lost in the co-working office space start-up.

8 Nov 2023 - 3:35PMvideocam

SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son attends a news conference in Tokyo in November 2018, in front of a screen showing the company's portfolio of start-ups. Photo: Reuters

Digital currencies

Ex-SoftBank executive sets up UAE stablecoin pegged to dirham

Akshay Naheta, who pitched SoftBank on selling chip firm Arm to Nvidia, set up his stablecoin firm DTR in the emirate’s financial free zone in Abu Dhabi.

2 Oct 2023 - 11:47AM

A former SoftBank executive is starting a new crypto company in the United Arab Emirates to create a stablecoin pegged to the dirham. Photo: Shutterstock

Semiconductors

Arm IPO reduces fundraising goal as investors weigh China risks

The SoftBank Group-owned chip firm aims to raise US$5 billion to US$7 billion, and its valuation could end up in the range of US$50 billion to US$60 billion.

4 Sep 2023 - 4:16PMvideocam

Semiconductors

IPO of chip firm Arm turns into tug of war for influence among tech giants

Tech giants are scrambling to get a piece of the IPO for Arm, which designs chips that are critical to mobile devices, to prevent rivals from gaining an edge.

23 Aug 2023 - 3:13PM

Semiconductors

SoftBank’s mobile chip firm Arm files for IPO set to be 2023’s biggest

The semiconductor design firm did not disclose proposed terms for the sale, but it is expected to seek a valuation of US$60 billion to US$70 billion.

22 Aug 2023 - 7:51PMvideocam

Semiconductors

British chip design firm Arm rolls out new tech for mobile devices

Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek said it will be using Arm’s latest tech innovation to boost the performance of next-generation smartphones.

29 May 2023 - 4:48PM

Hong Kong stock market

Alibaba, JD Logistics shares retreat as SoftBank reportedly plans to pare stakes

Chinese technology companies held by SoftBank face a threat to their recovery from Beijing’s regulatory crackdown: the Japanese investment firm reportedly plans to trim its substantial portfolio of China assets.

13 Apr 2023 - 4:49PMvideocam

Semiconductors

SoftBank-backed Arm rules out UK listing for now to focus on US IPO

SoftBank-owned Arm will not sell shares on the London Stock Exchange for now, dealing a blow to UK politicians who were lobbying the home-grown chip design giant ahead of its initial public offering.

3 Mar 2023 - 8:23PM

People are seen walking past a mobile shop of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp in Tokyo on February 6, 2023. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Semiconductors

China is betting on this chip design standard to fight US tech curbs

A group of Chinese semiconductor companies have unveiled close to a dozen new chips based on the RISC-V open-source architecture.

2 Dec 2022 - 9:30PMvideocam

China hopes that an alternative chip design architecture can help it shake off its reliance on chips based on Intel and Arm designs. Photo: Shutterstock

Alibaba

SoftBank to book US$34 billion gain from selling Alibaba shares

SoftBank’s stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant will fall to 14.6 per cent from 23.7 per cent after the settlement of prepaid forward contracts.

10 Aug 2022 - 6:11PM

Softbank

SoftBank plans additional London listing for Arm IPO

SoftBank is adjusting plans for an initial public offering of its Arm chip technology division, with a planned London listing as well, but is still likely to list the majority of what it offers for trading on US exchanges.

15 Jun 2022 - 11:00AM

Softbank

SoftBank faces record loss amid plunging tech valuations

The world’s largest tech fund is estimated to have lost about US$18.6 billion on its public portfolio in the quarter ended March.

12 May 2022 - 1:22PMvideocam

International Property

Fit for tech royalty: Inside the most expensive home in Bay Area

Fit for a king, here’s everything you need to know about the Woodside estate, the most expensive home to ever be listed in the Bay Area

20 Apr 2022 - 3:00AM

This new home in Woodside, California, styled to look like a Renaissance-era Italian villa and convenient for Silicon Valley, looks set to demolish the record for the most expensive Bay Area residence. Photo: Paul Rollins

Indonesia

Indonesia turns to Middle East, crowdfunding to finance new capital city project

With Japan’s SoftBank exiting Indonesia’s US$34 billion Nusantara project, analysts say it’s unclear whether other foreign investors, including from Saudi Arabia, will come on board.

4 Apr 2022 - 9:39PMvideocam

Semiconductors

Exclusive | Arm China asserts right to go public independent of British semiconductor firm Arm

The defiant head of Arm China said the company may go public in either Shanghai or Hong Kong after 2025.

30 Mar 2022 - 6:24PM

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