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Masayoshi Son Is Betting $100 Billion to Conquer the 24th Century

SoftBank’s founder is preparing for his biggest gamble yet.  

Masayoshi Son Is Betting $100 Billion to Conquer the 24th Century
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks during a news conference at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Tokyo, Japan. (Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Masayoshi Son is already one of the Japan's most successful businessmen, and now he's making his biggest gamble yet: To invest a record $100 billion in the technology that will power our future. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Peter Elstrom and Brad Stone trace the life of the billionaire, from his childhood as an immigrant and outsider in Southern Japan to the huge risks that Son took to grow SoftBank into an ever larger company. Peter and Brad also play some old tapes of Son from 30 years ago, back when he was a relatively unknown entrepreneur, that have never been released before.

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To contact the authors of this story: Peter Elstrom in Tokyo at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Brad Stone in San Francisco at bstone12@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pia Gadkari at pgadkari@bloomberg.net, Liz Smith Magnus Henriksson