Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son is the founder and CEO of Internet and telecom company Softbank Capital and the CEO of SoftBank Mobile. He graduated at the University of California, Berkeley in 1980 with a degree in economics. After that, he went back to Japan and created Softbank Capital in 1981 to publish computer-based media and software.

Masayoshi Son

Son is a classic example of a self-made billionaire. He built his empire starting from supplying computer software and publications to computing goods in Osaka. He led the growth of his business through acquisitions of shares in several Internet-related companies. These included Ziff-Davis, Yahoo!, E-Trade, COMDEX, Vodafone and Kingston Technology. Until today, Softbank continues to add more companies to its portfolio, turning it into a conglomerate with a value of about US$140 billion. In Forbes’ 2009 Japan’s 40 Richest, Son hit the 4th position with a net worth of US$3.9 billion.