Softbank’s Masayoshi Son dethrones Uniqlo CEO to become Japan's richest person

Son, SoftBank’s largest shareholder with a one-third stake, saw his fortune increase by $23 million over Yanai’s on Oct. 29, following a surge in company shares after reports that SoftBank was among the firms interested in launching projects in the U.S. during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Tokyo, Bloomberg reported.

Yanai, the chairman and largest shareholder of Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing Co., held the top spot in Japan’s billionaire rankings for most of the past decade, maintaining the position continuously since April 2022. The last time Son surpassed Yanai was in 2014.

Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of investment giant Softbank. Photo from AFP

Born in Japan in 1957 to ethnic Korean parents, Son began his entrepreneurial career in the U.S., developing an electronic dictionary that he sold to Sharp Corp. for around $1 million. After returning to Japan, he founded SoftBank in 1981, initially as a distributor of computer software. Over the years, SoftBank has evolved into a global conglomerate spanning telecommunications, digital payments, and technology investments.

Son’s biggest success was a $20 million investment in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2000, which generated billions in returns for SoftBank, according to CNBC. Now, Son is aiming to replicate that success with strategic investments in AI companies, positioning the Japanese investment giant at the forefront of a technological revolution.

"SoftBank was founded for what purpose? For what purpose was Masa Son born? It may sound strange, but I think I was born to realize ASI [artificial superintelligence]," Son said last year.

He has embarked on a spending spree on AI this year. His most ambitious deals include a planned $30 billion investment in OpenAI and the $500 billion Stargate Project, which aims to build AI data centers in partnership with OpenAI, Oracle Corp., and the Abu Dhabi fund MGX. Son has pledged to begin with $100 billion in funding, according to Fortune. He is also seeking to collaborate with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on a trillion-dollar industrial complex in Arizona focused on AI and robotics.

The gains from OpenAI, Arm Holdings Plc, and other AI investments have buoyed SoftBank, with its shares becoming a proxy for the AI infrastructure boom. Son’s recent ventures include a surprise $2 billion investment in Intel Corp., the acquisition of ABB Ltd.’s robotics arm for $5.4 billion, and increased exposure to Nvidia Corp. and TSMC.

"Everything is breaking the right way for SoftBank at the moment. Everything AI-related is going up." Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kirk Boodry said.