Masayoshi Son was born to a Korean immigrant family in Japan in 1957. The family was so destitute that he slept amidst livestock. As a child, he was bullied in school because of his Korean roots, he therefore adopted to a more Japanese resonating name, Masayoshi. At 16, Son moved to the US to learn English. After 2 years of high school, he ended up studying Economics at UC Berkeley.
Even though, Son didn’t have an engineering or technological background, he had an entrepreneurial mindset. He was intuitive enough to understand it and even better, knew how to sell it. While still at the university, along with a technical expert, he invented a speech synthesizer to use as a translator. The gadget was an instant success and ultimately sold to Sharp Corporation for USD 1.7 million (in today’s value).
While he was still at University in the US, arcade games were just taking off in the late 70s. Incidentally, his father ran a video game parlor in Japan. Seeing an opportunity, he started importing video game consoles of Pac Man, Space Invaders, alike and leased to local bars and restaurants on a profit-sharing basis. Once again, his business acumen helped him pocket another million dollars through this little scheme.
Despite of his successes, Son didn’t want to stay back in the US. He returned to Japan in 1981 and set up Softbank with 2 part-time workers and a small office. Softbank started off as a software distributor, selling packaged software to Japanese clients. Within a year, it started diversifying. In 1982, it entered the publishing business, launching 2 monthly magazines about PCs and software. Unbeknownst at the time, it paved the way for Softbank to further expand their publishing business when it acquired Ziff Davis, the US-based publisher of PC Week Magazine in 1996.
However, what propelled Softbank into prominence and global spotlight was its investment in Yahoo through its Japanese subsidiary. Son bet USD 374 million on Yahoo between 1995 and 1998, and at its peak, his investment led to a 50-fold gain. By late 90s, Son had invested in several tech companies, soaring his net worth. The dotcom craze propelled him to extraordinary heights — he also adorned the title as the richest man in the world, just for less than a week. Trouble was lurking around the corner. The 2000 dot-com bubble hit Son particularly hard. Prior to the crash, his net worth was USD 78 billion, most of which he lost overnight. His worth deflated by USD 70 billion in 1 fateful day. Softbank shares also lost 99% of their value. It was a crushing blow, but Son was not among one to be deterred.
He sought to rebuild his empire, this time creating a business that brought broadband services to Japan. He also made another move that would define his career for the next decade — he invested $30 million in a little-known Chinese startup at the time, Alibaba, which as we know has grown into a colossal organization and ended up becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world.
He thereafter raised USD 100 billion Vision Fund I and invested in emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT) across various companies globally. Within first 850 days, SoftBank deployed the entire fund money across various companies — that’s just shy of USD 100 million per day. As of 2021, he is back in the market to raise USD 108 billion for Vision Fund II.
What led to Son’s relentless unstoppable success? A Japanese businessman who didn’t conform to the norms. In addition to his education at Berkley, and thanks to the western exposure, he spoke English and shook hands instead of just respectfully bowing. And more importantly, he effortlessly straddled the Japanese and Western business worlds, which gave him the leverage while making business deals with foreign counterparts and also helped propel his career. He was and is remarkably comfortable taking large, risky bets, and a visionary. He made his fortune, lost it all, built it up again, and at the 64, he is still raring to go.
Life’s too short to do anything small.
― Masayoshi Son
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masayoshi_Son
