Masayoshi Son is a technology entrepreneur and investor who is a billionaire and one of the richest men in Japan. He is the creator, chairman, and CEO of SoftBank, a company that is the current owner of WeWork. Forbes ranked him as the 45th most powerful person in the world. As of 2022, Masayoshi Son has an estimated net worth of $22.1 billion.
Early Life
Born on August 11, 1957, Son grew up in the Japanese city of Tosu, Kyushu. He is a third-generation Zainichi Korean, which refers to ethnic Koreans who have permanent resident status in Japan.
Son Sam-heon, his father, was a fish trader and pig farmer. Son was so poor as a child that he had to live with livestock. He traveled to California when he was 16 years old after working at a McDonald’s restaurant.
He completed high school in three weeks by completing the required tests at Serramonte High School. He went on to study engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
Career Beginnings
His initial business ventures began while he was still a student. Son developed an electronic translator with the support of some of his professors, which he sold to Sharp Corporation. He earned $1.7 million from the venture.
He also made $1.5 million on his second endeavor. He imported second hand video gaming consoles from his home country and placed them in restaurants and dorms.
Masayoshi established Unison in Oakland in 1980 after graduating from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Afterwards he went back to Japan.
Founding SoftBank
Son created SoftBank, a Tokyo-based corporation, at 24 years old. In 1981, SoftBank began as a software reseller. The following year, it entered the publishing industry. In 1999, it turned into a holding company, and Masayoshi owns 21.25% of the business.
SoftBank paid $34 billion for Arm Holdings, a semiconductor and software design corporation, in 2016. They agree to sell to Nvidia in 2020 for $40 billion but the deal recently fell through. SoftBank also manages the Vision Fund to invest in innovative technologies.
With the Vision Fund, SoftBank put their money in companies with a lot of potential. They were the biggest shareholders of WeWork, investing $17 billion, only for its value to plummet to about $9 billion. After CEO Adam Neumann left, SoftBank became the majority owner of WeWork.
Net Worth
When he was still starting out, Son invested his money in early internet companies, such as Yahoo! and Alibaba. Now, he is still a strong believer in emergent tech. In recent years, he invested millions in some of the biggest solar power projects in Japan and Saudi Arabia.
However, his investments weren’t all successful. Son’s compensation was $900,000 in 2020, down 52% from his $1.9 million in 2019. This was allegedly due to Vision Fund’s loss from WeWork. But in 2022, he bounced back with a net worth of $22.1 billion.
Personal Life
Masayoshi is married to Masami Ohno. They met when they were still students in the US, and now, they have two daughters together. They live in a three-story home in Tokyo.
