Forbes:Japan’s 50 Richest People
2015 RANKING
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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.