SoftBank’s founder and Chief Executive
Masayoshi Son has managed to score success
by jumping from what he sees as one lucrative
venture to another, a business style that’s
common in the West but relatively rare in
conservative Japan Inc.
“I see comments out there that SoftBank even
might go bankrupt. But we are in the black. It is
a far cry from bankruptcy,” he told reporters and
analysts at a Tokyo hotel, noting shareholders’
value had increased by 5 trillion yen ($45 billion)
in the past four months.
Son showed a trompe-l’œil image that looks like
a duck from the right but a rabbit when looked
at from the left, while acknowledging he was
making “a pretty outlandish argument” to have
people focus on shareholders’ value, not profits.
Among SoftBank’s sprawling businesses are ride-
sharing Uber and the talking Pepper humanoid.