SoftBank’s Son Finally Explains How All Those Deals Fit Together

SoftBank’s Son Finally Explains How All Those Deals Fit Together
Masayoshi Son has had a busy year even by the standards of Japan’s most prolific investor. On Thursday in Tokyo, he took time to explain how it all fits together-Bloomberg

Masayoshi Son has had a busy year even by the standards of Japan’s most prolific investor. On Thursday in Tokyo, he took time to explain how it all fits together.

In the past six months, SoftBank Group Corp. has invested in businesses ranging from ride sharing, co-working and robotics to agriculture, cancer detection and autonomous driving. The 59-year-old took the stage at SoftBank World, the company’s annual two-day event for customers and suppliers, to outline the strategy behind those deals and the company’s planned $100 billion technology fund.

In the span of two and a half hours, Son painted a picture of the future where satellite networks cover every inch of the Earth and a trillion devices connected to the internet disgorge data into the cloud where it is analyzed by artificial intelligence. SoftBank and its companies will be there at every step of the way, the billionaire said.

SoftBank Vision Fund has already raised more than $93 billion in total commitments from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Apple Inc. and other large institutional backers, while SoftBank itself is contributing $28 billion. The fund will invest in cutting edge technologies from virtual reality to autonomous driving and the Internet of Things. At the Tokyo gathering, Son let about 10 of the portfolio companies take the stage and speak for themselves.

“The Vision Fund is not about taking on the world with one specific technology, business model or brand,” Son said. “It’s about people sharing the same vision coming together to start a revolution.”