If you are even minutely interested in finance or go through the financial news occasionally, one name that you must have come across often is Masayoshi Son.
He is the Chairman and CEO of Softbank Group, a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company that also includes the Softbank Vision Fund that focuses on investing globally across various sectors and industries like technology, energy, financial etc.
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Although Masayoshi Son is certainly renowned globally for the wide range of investments and deals that he has cracked, not many are aware of a unique feat that he achieved a few years back in 2016.
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In 2016, Masayoshi Son, who is a?3rd generation 'Zainichi?Korean',?met the then Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.?
And by the end of that meeting, Son managed to convince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS, as he is known, to commit $45bn from Saudi Arabia¡¯s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to Son¡¯s Vision Fund.
And a year later, Son opened up about that meeting in an interview with Bloomberg¡¯s David Rubenstein.?
When asked if he got the money from MBS in one hour, Son replied ¡°No, that¡¯s not true. I got $45bn in 45 minutes, that¡¯s $1bn per minute.¡±
On being asked how he had pulled off this remarkable feat, Son said that he had told MBS ¡°I am going to give you a gift, a Masa gift, a $1 trillion gift. OK, now it¡¯s interesting. You invest $100bn, I give you $1 trillion.¡±
Mohammed bin Salman went ahead to settle on the amount of $45bn as an initial investment in Masayoshi Son¡¯s fund.
The Saudi crown prince had previously grabbed the headlines after he reportedly spent $500m on a yacht, $300m on a chateau in France and a mammoth $450m on a painting.
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At the Future Investment Initiative held in Riyadh in October of 2017,? Softbank Group's CEO?Masayoshi Son stated that AI will be the greatest tool in humanity¡¯s history, one that will disrupt and ¡®redefine every industry¡¯.?
And that¡¯s not all.?
After reminding the audience that Einstein had an IQ of 200, Son spoke about a future where AI measured by IQ will expand to 10,000. He talked about a world where humans would live with 10 billion robots with ¡®superintelligence¡¯, also stating that ¡°they maybe will laugh at us.¡±?
Son further went on to tell his audience that the chip manufacturer ARM which he purchased for $32bn in 2016 and which is part of his SoftBank Holdings empire will come to control up to 99% of the global market.?
When speaking about MBS at that event, Son lauded the crown prince as a visionary who ¡°already had the understanding, the vision which happened to meet the mind in 45 minutes. That¡¯s how we create friendship, partnership, and the bonding of minds.¡±?
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