Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son's name is likely not one you've ever heard of if you're an average tech enthusiast. He's not mentioned as much as the likes of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, but we assure you: Son is one of the most powerful men in the tech industry. And in this article, you're going to see why.
A Young Business Prodigy
Masayoshi Son is a Japanese entrepreneur of Korean heritage. He studied high school in the US and was a model student-graduating after only two weeks. He then attended and graduated from the University of California-Berkeley, where he got his first crack at the world of business, writes the Harvard Business Review.
At the very young age of 20, when most of his peers would be in college, he sold a patent for a device to Sharp Corporation for $1 million. That invention was the world's first electronic dictionary. With this in tow, he went back to Japan in the early 80s and started the company he would eventually head: Softbank.
A Tech Billionaire
Founding Softbank was just the beginning for Son. The tech mogul is also the head of Softbank Vision Fund, which manages investments in other tech companies (a few of which will be mentioned later).
By having his share of a lot of pies, the Softbank CEO is worth an astounding $24.3 billion, enough to crown him the richest man in Japan, according to Forbes. His net worth is also enough to put him at 29th place among the world's billionaires last year, and he was also #55 in Forbes' 2018 Most Powerful People list.
With all of his accomplishments, he became known as "The Bill Gates of Japan," which is a fitting moniker for all intents and purposes.
If the $40 billion deal between NVIDIA and Arm (a company Softbank owns) pushed through, Son's net worth would have skyrocketed even higher, considering he owns an astounding 1.6 million shares in the company he leads.
Which Notable Companies Does The Softbank CEO Control?
To say that Softbank is one of the largest and most powerful tech companies in the world is a massive understatement. And much of their power lies in perhaps the most ubiquitous piece of technology ever: your very own smartphone.
As previously mentioned, the company owns British chipmaker Arm. They bought it for a cool $31 billion back in 2016. If you're unaware, Arm controls 99% of the world's production of smartphone chips. That chip in your brand-new iPhone 13? Son has a hand in making that a reality. So you can thank his and his company's efforts in doing so.
Softbank has investments in other big tech companies like Qualcomm, Foxconn, and even Apple. They also have investments in ride-share provider Grab, as well as India's Paytm and Korea's Coupang (essentially South Korea's Amazon). They've also invested in Vodafone, Sprint, and T-Mobile, as well as the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
But one of their most recent acquisitions is likely their most revolutionary: Boston Dynamics. If you remember those viral videos of BD's robots doing parkour, you know that Masayoshi Son also has his fingers into an industry which could very much blow up within the next few decades, as robots become even more ubiquitous.
Now, if you're going to talk about the world's most powerful tech billionaires, you might as well add Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to the mix.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
