TOP 100 | LEADERS

Title: Chief Executive Officer Company: SoftBank Industry: Technology / Investment Holding

Every era gets the gambler it deserves, and this one gets Masayoshi Son at full conviction. The SoftBank founder lost more money than anyone alive when the dot-com bubble burst, roughly US $ 70bn of paper wealth, then minted it back with a US $ 20m cheque to a young Jack Ma that became one of the greatest investments ever made. His latest act dwarfs both stories, a commitment to OpenAI approaching US $ 65bn financed with characteristic audacity through bridge loans, bond sales and sheer nerve, while Arm, his crown jewel, collects royalties from nearly every smartphone on the planet. Masa talks openly of artificial superintelligence and keeps a 300-year plan for a company barely 45 years old. Prudence has never built his fortunes. Belief, catastrophically and then magnificently, always has.

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