Forbes：Japan’s 50 Richest People - Alibaba：The ONE Stock to Buy in April
2015 RANKING
Alibaba：The ONE Stock to Buy in April

Masayoshi Son
#2 Masayoshi Son
Follow (80)
Real Time Net Worth As of 4/2/15
$13.8 Billion
CEO, Softbank
Age        57
Source Of Wealth         internet, telecom, Self Made
Residence        Tokyo, Japan
Citizenship        Japan
Marital Status        Married
Children        2
Education        Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of California Berkeley Masayoshi Son on Forbes Lists
#2 Japan's 50 Richest (2015)
#1 in 2014
#75 Billionaires (2015)
#2 in Japan
#38 Powerful People (2014)

Masayoshi Son's mobile Internet powerhouse, Softbank, which has a 32% stake in china's e-commerce giant Alibaba, got a nice windfall after Alibaba went public in September 2014. But the shares lost appeal following the Chinese Internet giant's IPO. His $3.4 billion attempted takeover of Dreamworks Animation also fell apart in late 2014. Undeterred, Softbank recently invested $250 million in Legendary entertainment, maker of the movies Godzilla and Interstellar, in an effort to move into content creation. It is also betting on robotics, introducing in June 2014 a humanlike robot named Pepper, billed as the first that can sense human feelings. Facing succession issues, he has also set up a process to vet candidates, bringing together about 300 people a year to play management games and debate; everyone is ranked, and the lowest 20% are asked to leave each year. Son spends half his time in the U.S.; he bought a home in Woodside, California for more than $100 million in 2012.

Alibaba IPO boosts Masayoshi Son as he's crowned Japan's 'richest man'

Son's Softbank made a $20 million investment in little known Alibaba 14 years ago- and the Japanese businessman is now reaping the benefits
MARIA TADEO Author Biography Wednesday 17 September 2014

Softbank's chief executive Masayoshi Son has become Japan's richest man with an estimated personal fortune of $16.6 billion...And he may have to send Alibaba a thank you note for it.

Shares in Softbank, which owns a 37 per cent stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant, have surged ahead of Alibaba's initial public offering with shares expected to begin trading on Friday in New York.

And this is good news for the Japanese businessman.

Son's Softbank invested $20 million in the Chinese company back in 2000 before the relatively unknown Alibaba.com turned into an e-commerce behemoth.

His bet paid off and Alibaba's IPO is already proving a huge win for Son, who owns a 19 per cent stake in Softbank, and recently indicated he has no immediate plans to sell the company's stake in Alibaba.

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On Tuesday, Alibaba raised its float price range from $60-$66 a share to $66 to $68 citing strong demand. At $68 per share, the float would value Alibaba at $168bn (￡104 billion) and raise more than $25 billion, making it the biggest public offering ever.

The float price would also be good news for Yahoo- a minority investor in Alibaba with a 22 per cent stake which has seen its share price jump ahead of the IPO. Unlike Softbank, Yahoo has already indicated it plans to sell 140 million shares and return at least half the cash from the IPO to shareholders, which could be in the form of a stock buyback or a dividend.