Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced

2026-10-20T17:36:12Z

New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced

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{{short description|'''Japanese businessman and investor; founder, chairman and chief executive of SoftBank Group'''}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Masayoshi Son
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|8|11|df=y}}
| citizenship = Japan
| education = University of California, Berkeley (BA)
| occupation = businessman, investor
| known_for = Founder of [[SoftBank Group]]; SoftBank Vision Fund; chairman of [[Arm Holdings]]
| net_worth = US$56.1 billion (Forbes real-time estimate, 20 October 2026)
}}

'''Masayoshi Son''' (born 11 August 1957) is a Japanese businessman who founded the investment and technology conglomerate [[SoftBank Group]] in 1981 and remains its chairman and chief executive. He is also chairman of the British chip designer [[Arm Holdings]].<ref name="sbg_son">SoftBank Group Corp., [https://group.softbank/en/about/officer/son Biography: Masayoshi Son] ''SoftBank Group Corp.'', undated (shareholding as of 1 June 2026), accessed 20 October 2026.</ref><ref name="fp_masayoshi_son">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/masayoshi-son.json Forbes profile record for Masayoshi Son (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/masayoshi-son/)] ''Forbes'', live record, read 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> On 20 October 2026 the [[Forbes]] Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Masayoshi Son 34th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$56.1 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Telecom, Investments.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" /><ref name="ForbesRTB">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rtb/0/position/true.json Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed] ''Forbes'', live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Masayoshi Son 36th, at US$51.5 billion.<ref name="ForbesAnnual">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/billionaires/2026/position/true.json Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read)] ''Forbes'', annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Son grew up in [[Saga Prefecture]], Japan. He went to the United States at 16 on a short study-abroad programme and moved to San Francisco a year later. In 1977 he began studying economics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="verge_son">Jeff Blagdon and Sam Byford, [https://www.theverge.com/2012/10/22/3526716/masayoshi-son-softbank-ceo-profile Meet Masayoshi Son, the fascinating Japanese CEO who just bet $20 billion on Sprint] ''The Verge'', 22 October 2012, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> ''The Verge'' reported that while a student he sold a translation-device idea to [[Sharp Corporation|Sharp]] for ¥100 million and used the money to start his first company in the US.<ref name="verge_son" /> Forbes confirms his undergraduate degree from Berkeley.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" />

== Business career ==
Son founded Nihon SoftBank, now SoftBank Group Corp., in September 1981 as a software distributor. He became a director of Alibaba.com in 2005, chairman of Vodafone K.K. (now SoftBank Corp.) in 2006, and chairman of ARM Holdings in 2016 after SoftBank acquired it.<ref name="sbg_son" /><ref name="verge_son" /> ''The Verge'' reported that SoftBank entered mobile telephony in 2006 by buying Vodafone Japan for about US$15 billion, and in 2012 agreed to acquire the US carrier [[Sprint Corporation|Sprint]].<ref name="verge_son" /> SoftBank lists his holding as 1,865,511,164 shares as of 1 June 2026, and says the board credits him with the investment in Alibaba, the acquisition of ARM and the founding of the SoftBank Vision Fund.<ref name="sbg_son" />

In October 2016 SoftBank announced the Vision Fund with Saudi Arabia's [[Public Investment Fund]] (PIF), which agreed to consider investing up to US$45 billion as lead partner.<ref name="sbg_vf">SoftBank Group Corp., [https://group.softbank/en/news/press/20161014 SoftBank Group Corp. to Establish SoftBank Vision Fund] ''SoftBank Group (press release)'', 14 October 2016, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> By May 2017 the fund had more than US$93 billion of committed capital from SoftBank, the PIF, the UAE's [[Mubadala Investment Company]], Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Sharp.<ref name="pif_vf">Public Investment Fund, [https://www.pif.gov.sa/en/news-and-insights/press-releases/2017/pif-softbank-group-and-mubadala/ The Public Investment Fund, SoftBank Group and Mubadala joined by initial investors in Vision Fund including Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Sharp] ''Public Investment Fund (press release)'', 20 May 2017, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> Forbes reports that the Vision Funds have invested in more than 400 companies. It says that in 2024 SoftBank formed a joint venture with Alat, a Riyadh-based firm, to make industrial robots, and that in November 2025 it sold its entire Nvidia stake for nearly US$6 billion to help fund its investment in OpenAI.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" /> In January 2025 SoftBank and OpenAI announced the Stargate Project, a new company intended to invest US$500 billion over four years in AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.<ref name="sbg_stargate">SoftBank Group Corp. and OpenAI, [https://group.softbank/en/news/press/20250122 Announcing The Stargate Project] ''SoftBank Group (press release)'', 22 January 2025, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Wealth ==
Forbes gives the source of his wealth as telecoms and investments. It reports that SoftBank Group made a net profit of ¥5 trillion (US$31 billion) in the year to 31 March 2026.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" /> ''The Verge'' noted in 2012 that Son had lost US$1.3 billion of his personal wealth when SoftBank shares fell on reports of the Sprint deal.<ref name="verge_son" />

== Wealth history ==
[[Forbes]] has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 26 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.<ref name="ForbesAnnual" /><ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Forbes estimates by list year
! Year !! World's Billionaires rank !! Net worth (US$ bn)
|-
| 2001 || 55 || 5.6
|-
| 2002 || 293 || 1.5
|-
| 2003 || 386 || 1.1
|-
| 2004 || 216 || 2.4
|-
| 2005 || 122 || 4.3
|-
| 2006 || 221 || 3.1
|-
| 2007 || 129 || 5.8
|-
| 2008 || 201 || 5.1
|-
| 2009 || 151 || 3.7
|-
| 2010 || 127 || 5.9
|-
| 2011 || 113 || 8.1
|-
| 2012 || 127 || 7.2
|-
| 2013 || 128 || 8.6
|-
| 2014 || 42 || 18.4
|-
| 2015 || 75 || 14.1
|-
| 2016 || 82 || 11.7
|-
| 2017 || 34 || 21.2
|-
| 2018 || 39 || 22.7
|-
| 2019 || 43 || 21.6
|-
| 2020 || 56 || 16.6
|-
| 2021 || 29 || 45.4
|-
| 2022 || 74 || 21.3
|-
| 2023 || 69 || 22.4
|-
| 2024 || 51 || 32.7
|-
| 2025 || 60 || 29.4
|-
| 2026 || 36 || 51.5
|}

== Philanthropy ==
After the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, SoftBank announced that Son would personally donate ¥10 billion and give his entire remuneration as SoftBank's representative, from fiscal 2011 until he retires, to support children orphaned by the disaster and other orphaned children.<ref name="sbg_2011a">SoftBank Corp., [https://group.softbank/en/news/press/20110403 Great East Japan Earthquake: Donation of Relief Money and Aid] ''SoftBank Group (press release)'', 3 April 2011, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> In May 2011 the company said the money would go to the Japanese Red Cross Society, the Central Community Chest of Japan, the Japan Committee for UNICEF, five prefectural governments, and a ¥4 billion recovery fund for organisations supporting orphaned children.<ref name="sbg_2011b">SoftBank Corp., [https://group.softbank/en/news/press/20110516 Donation of Relief Money Following Great East Japan Earthquake: Beneficiaries and Funds Allocated] ''SoftBank Group (press release)'', 16 May 2011, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Political activity ==
Forbes reports that in December 2024 Son pledged that SoftBank would invest US$100 billion and create 100,000 jobs in the United States during [[Donald Trump]]'s second term.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" /> The Stargate Project was announced in Washington, D.C., in January 2025.<ref name="sbg_stargate" /> No personal political donations were found in the sources checked.

== Controversies and legal issues ==
''The Verge'' described Son as a controversial figure in Japan because of his outspoken, risk-taking style. It noted that during a regulatory dispute with NTT he once threatened to set himself on fire at a government meeting.<ref name="verge_son" /> No legal proceedings against Son personally were found in the sources checked.

== International and political links ==
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."

=== Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements) ===
In July 2021 ''Globes'' reported that SoftBank had appointed the former [[Mossad]] chief [[Yossi Cohen]] to run its activity in Israel.<ref name="globes_cohen">Assaf Gilead, [https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-exclusive-ex-mossad-chief-yossi-cohen-to-head-softbanks-israel-office-1001377596 Exclusive: SoftBank taps ex-Mossad chief to head Israel office] ''Globes'', 9 July 2021, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> In August 2019 ''The Times of Israel'' reported a US$200 million investment by SoftBank Corp. and its affiliates in Cybereason, which it described as a US-Israeli cyber-security firm.<ref name="toi_cyber">Shoshanna Solomon, [https://www.timesofisrael.com/japans-softbank-pumps-extra-200-million-in-us-israeli-startup-cybereason/ Japan’s SoftBank pumps extra $200 million in US-Israeli startup Cybereason] ''The Times of Israel'', 6 August 2019, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> No personal donations to Israeli or pro-Israel organisations were found.

=== Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Jewish communal charities ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Gulf states ===
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was the lead partner in the SoftBank Vision Fund, and the UAE's Mubadala was also an investor.<ref name="sbg_vf" /><ref name="pif_vf" /> Forbes also lists a SoftBank robotics joint venture with Alat, a firm based in Riyadh.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" />

=== China ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Russia ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== India ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Palestinian or Arab causes ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Home government ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Other international links ===
For the investment pledges SoftBank made to the United States in 2024–25, see Political activity.<ref name="fp_masayoshi_son" /><ref name="sbg_stargate" />

== See also ==
* [[SoftBank Group]]
* [[Arm Holdings]]

== External links ==
* [https://group.softbank/en SoftBank Group]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Businesspeople|Son, Masayoshi]]
[[Category:Living people|Son, Masayoshi]]
[[Category:Japanese billionaires|Son, Masayoshi]]
[[Category:Japan|Son, Masayoshi]]
[[Category:Telecommunications|Son, Masayoshi]]
[[Category:Investment|Son, Masayoshi]]

Masayoshi Son - Revision history

Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced