Masayoshi Son likes to think and act big. Witness his December 2016 meeting with then president-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower. SoftBank CEO Son promised Trump that he would lead $50 billion of investment into US companies and create 50,000 jobs in the process. Much of the funding behind the “SoftBank Vision Fund”, which Son initially unveiled in October, comes from other people’s pockets—most notably as much as $45 billion over five years from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Son also convinced Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison to chip in $1 billion each—all while continuing to put SoftBank funds into a number of startups. Son is aiming to reclaim some of the magic investors saw in him before a disappointing dive into US mobile telecom firm Sprint in 2013. Here’s a look at the players in Son’s world in recent months.
