Masayoshi Son (Japanese: 孫 正義; born Masayoshi Yasumoto, August 11, 1957) is a Japanese entrepreneur, investor, and…
Masayoshi Son (Japanese: 孫 正義; born Masayoshi Yasumoto, August 11, 1957) is a Japanese entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. A Zainichi Korean, he is the founder, 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 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 $59 billion during the dot-com crash of 2000 alone, when his SoftBank shares plummeted), a feat surpassed by Elon Musk in the following decades.
Famous Japanese People: Wealthy Individual
Wealthy Individual: 3 people
Tadashi Yanai (柳井 正, Yanai Tadashi; born 7 February 1949) is a Japanese billionaire businessman and the founder and…
Tadashi Yanai (柳井 正, Yanai Tadashi; born 7 February 1949) is a Japanese billionaire businessman and the founder and president of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo ("unique clothing"). As of May 2025, he is the richest person in Japan, with an estimated net worth of US$50.3 billion, and the 28th-wealthiest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ryoichi Jinnai (神内 良一, Jinnai Ryōichi; August 15, 1926 – June 27, 2017) was the founder of Promise, Japan's…
Ryoichi Jinnai (神内 良一, Jinnai Ryōichi; August 15, 1926 – June 27, 2017) was the founder of Promise, Japan's third-largest consumer finance company, of which he is honorary chairman. He funded the Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Center in Fiji. Jinnai died of heart failure on June 27, 2017.