Masayoshi Son: The Visionary Who Reshaped Tech 🚀💼
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Strict use of scripts:“The Early Hustler Masayoshi Son’s journey begins in the shadow of Japan’s post-war reconstruction, a time when opportunities were scarce, and barriers for ethnic Koreans like Son loomed high. Born in 1957 to a family of Zainichi Koreans, Son grew up in a makeshift settlement near a railway station in Tosu, Kyushu. His family, raising pigs and facing daily discrimination, lived in constant poverty. Despite this, Son’s father, Mitsunori, embodied relentless resourcefulness, running a moonshine business and eventually becoming a pachinko parlor operator. His early lessons about survival in the margins would deeply influence Son’s entrepreneurial mindset. One day, young Son experienced a formative incident. Walking home from school, a group of Japanese children pelted him with stones, shouting slurs. Bleeding but undeterred, he realized, “You’re not a Japanese kid.” This clarity about his identity and the hostility it attracted steeled him for the challenges ahead. These formative years, harsh as they were, sharpened his resilience. By the early 1970s, Son’s ambition was already towering. Inspired by the entrepreneurial success of figures like Den Fujita, the founder of McDonald’s Japan, he boldly sought Fujita’s advice. He showed up unannounced, asking for a mere three minutes of his time. “Look to the future industries. Focus on computers,” Fujita advised. Son internalized this wisdom, planting the seeds for his eventual focus on technology. At 16, with a dream to expand beyond Japan’s constrained opportunities, Son persuaded his parents to send him to the United States for education. In 1974, he arrived in California, enrolling at Serramonte High School in Daly City. Determined to fast-track his education, he convinced the school principal to let him skip multiple grades. Despite his limited English, he leveraged sheer willpower and a dictionary to excel, completing high school in record time. During this time, Son’s entrepreneurial spirit flourished. At 19, he collaborated with Professor Forrest Mozer from UC Berkeley, where he later enrolled, to develop a talking translator device—a prototype of modern-day portable electronics. This invention marked Son’s first major success when he licensed the technology to Sharp in 1978 for $1 million. Meanwhile, he ran a video game importing business and even managed to marry his girlfriend, Masami Ono, balancing his work with an increasingly demanding personal life. His time in the U.S. shaped him profoundly. Seeing the limitless opportunities of Silicon Valley and experiencing a society that valued individual effort over lineage, Son began to believe he could transcend the discrimination he faced in Japan. However, returning to Japan in 1980, he confronted a society still entrenched in tradition and hierarchy. He refused to adopt a Japanese alias, declaring, “I’m going to be a showcase,” signaling his defiance against the systemic prejudice Zainichi Koreans faced. Through his early experiments in pachinko, technology, and education, Son demonstrated an insatiable hunger for success and an uncanny ability to turn adversity into opportunity. These formative years were not just about building skills but also about shaping a vision that would define his career: to bridge the gap between technology and society while challenging the limitations imposed on him by his origins. Son’s early journey shows how identity and ambition intersect. He could have hidden his heritage, yet he embraced it, channeling the marginalization he faced into a fierce drive for success. His ventures into new technologies and his readiness to adapt reveal an early pattern of calculated risk-taking—a trait that would define his empire-building years. His story reminds us that barriers can fuel ambition when paired with vision and resilience. As we transition to the next phase, Son’s journey from a resourceful young hustler to a visionary entrepreneur takes on a sharper focus. The foundation he built in his formative years set the stage for his ascent to reshape not just his destiny but also the entire technology landscape. Building the Empire The 1980s marked a pivotal period for Son as he transitioned from a determined young hustler to the mastermind behind a burgeoning empire. Returning to Japan in 1980, Son embarked on an ambitious journey to dominate the nascent software distribution market. Starting from a modest office in Fukuoka, he relentlessly pursued opportunities in personal computing, convinced that software would be the cornerstone of the digital age. His company, SoftBank, was launched in 1981 with the bold promise of turning it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. “In five years, profits have to be 10 billion yen. In ten years, 50 billion,” he declared to his small, skeptical team. Son’s first major challenge was the Osaka trade show in 1982. Despite securing the largest booth, he faced ridicule from software vendors who doubted his business acumen. Undeterred, he went all-in, exhausting 80% of his capital on the event. The gamble paid off when he struck a key deal with Joshin Denki, one of Japan’s top electronics retailers. Son’s fearless negotiation tactics impressed the company’s president, who signed an exclusive partnership. This breakthrough gave SoftBank the credibility it needed to attract other major retailers and software vendors, including Hudson Soft, a leading software producer. However, success did not come without personal costs. In 1983, Son was diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B, a life-threatening condition that forced him to step back from day-to-day operations. To ensure the company’s survival, he appointed Yasuhiko Omori, a seasoned executive from Nomura Securities, as SoftBank’s CEO while he retained the title of chairman. Son, even from his hospital bed, continued to strategize and innovate. He spent his recovery time developing the NCC Box, a groundbreaking device that automatically found the best telecommunication rates for users. Despite his declining health, Son’s ingenuity and resilience kept SoftBank afloat. By 1984, Son underwent an experimental treatment under Dr. Hiromitsu Kumada, which miraculously cured his hepatitis. With renewed vigor, he returned to rebuild SoftBank, pushing forward with bold initiatives, including the launch of Oh! PC, a magazine dedicated to promoting software. Though the first issue flopped, Son’s determination to improve its format turned it into a hit, solidifying SoftBank’s reputation as Japan’s go-to software distributor. His vision of uniting hardware manufacturers and software developers began to take shape, even as he competed fiercely against industry titans like Microsoft. Son’s drive was not just about profits; it was about reshaping Japan’s technological landscape. He understood the value of collaboration and competition, often challenging traditional Japanese business practices. His partnerships with global players and his ability to adapt to market needs set him apart from his peers. By the mid-1980s, SoftBank controlled 75% of Japan’s software distribution market, an extraordinary achievement for a company that had started with almost no resources. Son’s rise during this period highlights his willingness to take enormous risks and his unyielding belief in the transformative power of technology. His ability to inspire loyalty and secure alliances played a crucial role in building his empire. As he later said, “I don’t have evidence, but I strongly believe in myself.” This relentless self-belief and strategic foresight solidified SoftBank’s foundation and laid the groundwork for its global ambitions. Looking ahead, the next chapter in Son’s journey would see him take his empire beyond Japan, targeting Silicon Valley and global markets. His vision expanded from dominating software distribution to creating a transnational tech empire, positioning himself as a central figure in the tech world. What followed was a series of high-stakes gambles that would define his legacy. The Global Visionary The 1990s and early 2000s marked the period when Son evolved from a national entrepreneur to a global technology visionary. Armed with bold ideas and an unrelenting drive, he set his sights beyond Japan, determined to shape the future of global technology. His first significant step was investing in emerging markets, including China, where in 2000, he made a $20 million investment in a then-unknown e-commerce platform, Alibaba. It was a daring gamble. Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, recalled, “He didn’t look at spreadsheets. He just said, ‘I believe in you.’” This leap of faith would later become one of the most profitable investments in history, as Alibaba’s IPO in 2014 turned Son’s initial stake into a $58 billion windfall. Son’s ambitions didn’t stop with investments in individual companies. In 2010, he announced his audacious "30-year vision," a roadmap to position SoftBank as the leading player in the Information Revolution. This vision was not just about dominating the market—it was about using technology to address humanity’s greatest challenges, from renewable energy to artificial intelligence. This ambition saw him orchestrating the acquisition of ARM Holdings in 2016 for $31 billion. ARM’s microchip designs powered nearly every smartphone, making it a cornerstone of Son’s strategy to shape the future of interconnected devices. But these grand plans came with their fair share of risks. Son launched the $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017, a colossal pool of capital backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and other global investors. The Vision Fund was designed to supercharge startups, from ride-hailing platforms to AI companies. However, its aggressive investment strategy drew criticism. Son’s backing of WeWork, a co-working startup, turned into a public debacle when its valuation plummeted in 2019, forcing SoftBank to inject billions to stabilize the company. Critics questioned his judgment, but Son defended his philosophy: “If you want to make big returns, you have to take big risks.” Throughout these years, Son’s relentless optimism and knack for spotting transformative trends remained his defining traits. He viewed setbacks as temporary and often compared himself to historical figures like Ryoma Sakamoto, a Japanese reformer who changed the nation’s course in the 19th century. In the same spirit, Son continued to push forward, investing in AI, robotics, and renewable energy, technologies he believed would redefine the 21st century. Son’s journey as a global visionary is a testament to his ability to think decades ahead and act fearlessly. His investments in Alibaba and ARM highlighted his talent for identifying pivotal technologies before others recognized their value. Yet, his story also underscores the risks of ambition. While the Vision Fund’s performance has been mixed, its existence has reshaped how venture capital operates on a global scale, setting new standards for the size and speed of startup funding. As Son continues to chase his 30-year vision, his legacy lies not just in his financial successes but in his role as a catalyst for technological progress. He has redefined what it means to be a tech investor, prioritizing long-term impact over short-term gains. His career shows that while risks may lead to failures, they are also the foundation of breakthroughs. As the editor of Heardly, through studying these lessons, we can embrace calculated risks, not just in business but in pursuing audacious solutions to global challenges—reshaping the world, one bold vision at a time. ” Title Usage:“#$100 BILLION #SoftBank #MASAYOSHI SON - Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan’s Masayoshi Son · The CEO of SoftBank promises to invest $100 billion in the United States” The content is in English with English-Chinese bilingual subtitles. This is a comprehensive summary of the book Using Hollywood production values and cinematic style.
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