SoftBank's Son, Bankrupted by Good Stories, Awaits His Next Alibaba
Masayoshi Son is back. After years defined by Vision Fund's massive losses and costly missteps like WeWork—which shattered market confidence and led to billions in write-downs—Son has found redemption through AI. His early, high-conviction bets are paying off handsomely. Arm, acquired for $32 billion in 2016 and once a heavily leveraged burden, has become a gold mine amid the AI compute boom, delivering roughly a 10x return for SoftBank after its 2023 IPO.
More crucially, SoftBank has made an enormous, concentrated bet on OpenAI, committing over $64 billion for a roughly 13% stake. This investment is already showing massive paper gains, contributing significantly to SoftBank's soaring valuation and propelling Son back to the top as Asia's richest person. The narrative has shifted from the "fool" who fell for grandiose stories to the visionary who endured a brutal downturn and is now being rewarded for his early faith in artificial intelligence.
marsbit06/09 04:30
