Masayoshi Son
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
Using ¥100 million earned from patents on an automatic translator he developed while studying in the United States, he founded Nihon SoftBank in September 1981. He narrowed the field to a few industries that required little capital and offered high growth, hired staff, and studied markets and technology for a year and a half before launching. Software could not serve as collateral and no bank would lend to a distributor, so loans were made on personal guarantees from Tadashi Sasaki of Sharp and others. He has held a large stake since the founding and remained the largest shareholder with 32.73% in the FY ended March 2026.
Selection
In September 1981 he established Nihon SoftBank in Yonbancho, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, and began distributing packaged software for personal computers. As PCs spread, the variety of software was growing, yet almost no one handled wholesale between makers and retailers, and users had to hunt around several microcomputer shops. He designed the business as an intermediary distributor that would deliver software the way bookstores sell books. There was no predecessor; he began running the company as the first president of a firm he founded himself.
Initiatives
In May 1982 the company launched the monthly magazines Oh! PC and Oh! MZ, entering publishing. In April 1983 he handed the presidency to Yasuhiko Omori and stepped back to Chairman, returning in February 1986. In 1996 he established Yahoo Japan Corporation in a joint venture with US-based Yahoo, and in 2016 acquired UK-based Arm for ¥3 trillion. In 2017 he formed the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Career
Career
SoftBank Group
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Sep 1981 | Representative Director, President |
| Apr 1983 | Representative Director, Chairman |
| Apr 1983 | Stepped down as President |
| Feb 1986 | Representative Director, President |
| Jun 2007 | Representative Director, President and CEO |
| Jun 2017 | Representative Director, Chairman and President |
| Nov 2020 | Representative Director, Chairman and President, Executive Officer |
SoftBank
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 2006 | Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and CEO |
| Apr 2018 | Chairman |
| Apr 2021 | Founder, Director |