Masayoshi Son Reclaims Asia's Richest Title

Author｜Yezi

Masayoshi Son, Asia's richest person, has made a triumphant return.

As of the market close on June 2, 2026, SoftBank Group's market value soared to ¥49.30 trillion, officially surpassing Toyota Motor's ¥44.92 trillion, ending Toyota's over 20-year reign as Japan's most valuable listed company.

Meanwhile, on Forbes' real-time billionaire list, 68-year-old SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's personal wealth surged to $100.7 billion. He overtook Indian tycoons like Ambani and Adani, climbing to 21st globally and reclaiming the title of Asia's richest person after over a decade.

Son once earned ¥730 billion by investing in Alibaba, earning him the title of 'Investment God.' Later, he suffered massive losses in the sharing economy bubble with WeWork, leading to ridicule as 'fallen from grace.'

This time, Son's comeback stems from his AI layout (AI strategy). In an era dominated by large models and computing power, he has bet his entire fortune on an unprecedented AI full-industry-chain revolution.

How Did Masayoshi Son Stage a Comeback via AI?

Earning $320 Billion with Arm

Capital markets are always acute (sensitive). After a 50% plunge from late 2025 to early 2026, SoftBank's stock price surged nearly 140%, breaking historical highs. Currently, SoftBank's market value exceeds $300 billion, a fivefold increase from its $60+ billion low in 2022.

This surge is backed by Son's ace in the hole: Arm.

In September 2016, SoftBank spent ≈$31 billion to acquire UK-based chip designer Arm. By 2023, SoftBank repurchased ≈25% of Arm's equity from Vision Fund for ≈$16.1 billion, totaling ≈$47.1 billion in investments.

Notably, part of the funds for the original deal indirectly came from cashing out Alibaba shares. In June 2016, SoftBank announced plans to liquidate at least $7.9 billion worth of Alibaba stock.

Fortunately, he bet correctly. In 2023, ChatGPT's emergence ignited a global AI wave. While large model training relies heavily on parallel computing, the rise of AI Agents made task organization and process management critical, opening growth space for server CPUs.

Among server CPU contenders, Arm's architecture, with advantages in energy efficiency and memory bandwidth, became more attractive than x86.

During this AI infrastructure expansion, Arm's performance soared. In the capital market, Arm's stock price suddenly surged 268% in 2026.

To secondary markets, SoftBank has become an 'Arm shadow stock.' Since 2026, SoftBank's market value correlation with Arm has strengthened. As of the U.S. market close on June 2, 2026, based on SoftBank's ≈$370 billion stake in ARM, its paper gains exceeded $320 billion.

Having missed out on NVIDIA by prematurely liquidating, Son finally enjoyed AI hardware dividends through his Arm holding (Arm holding ).

Investing Over $100 Billion to Build an AI Ecosystem

Relying solely on Arm would not be ambitious enough for Son. He aims to build a full-industry-chain closed loop (closed loop) from chip design to computing infrastructure and application deployment.

Just two or three years ago, Son was still reeling from Vision Fund's failures. In 2018, he persuaded Saudi's sovereign fund to co-invest $100 billion in Vision Fund I, deploying $70 billion in three years to become Uber, WeWork, and other sharing economy giants' largest shareholder.

However, WeWork's 2019 IPO failure marked the start of his 'bad luck.' In FY2021, SoftBank Group reported a record net loss of $13.12 billion. By late 2022, Son reluctantly handed SoftBank to Yoshimitsu Goto to focus on AI.

Outsiders thought he had lost his chips, but Son silently executed a 'lane change and overtake.'

In AI large model applications, Son aggressively invested in OpenAI. In 2025, SoftBank completed a $30 billion actual investment in OpenAI; in Q1 2026, it announced an additional $30 billion. Son has injected over $64 billion into OpenAI, acquiring ≈13% equity to become its second-largest external investor after Microsoft.

By FY2026 end (March 31, 2026), SoftBank had recognized ≈$45 billion in investment gains from OpenAI.

In general-purpose computing chips, in March 2025, SoftBank announced a $6.5 billion cash acquisition of U.S.-based Ampere Computing, which specializes in Arm-based data center CPUs, directly filling SoftBank's cloud computing gap.

The most cash-intensive area was computing infrastructure. On June 1, 2026, at France's 'Choose France' investment summit, 68-year-old Son and French President Macron jointly announced a €75 billion AI data center investment plan. The initial €45 billion phase aims to build 3.1 GW computing capacity by 2031, expandable to 5 GW.

Additionally, SoftBank partnered with OpenAI and Oracle on the $500 billion U.S. Stargate supercomputing project, achieving dual layout (dual layout ) in Europe and the Americas.

In early 2024, Son also planned to raise $100 billion for 'Izanagi,' an AI chip venture directly competing with NVIDIA.

So, do you see his ambition? He's no longer satisfied with being a pure financial investor; he wants to personally define the super-AI era.

Behind SoftBank's Overtaking of Toyota

When SoftBank's market value surpassed Toyota's, it signified not just a ranking change but a shift in Japan's capital market value anchor.

Toyota's long reign as Japan's most valuable company represented the glory of the global auto industry and steady entity (entity) cash flows, while SoftBank embodies the future imagination of computing power and AI.

On June 1, 2026, slowing global passenger vehicle demand caused Toyota's stock to drop 4.37%; meanwhile, stimulated by the €75 billion data center plan, SoftBank's stock surged 14.71% in a single day, reaching ¥48 trillion (≈$306 billion), boosting Son's net worth by over $12 billion in one day.

Amid these fluctuations, Japan's stock market completed its leadership transition. By June 2, 2026, this market value lead had further solidified.

Indeed, strong earnings also fueled the stock price. In May 2026, SoftBank disclosed FY2025 full-year results, reporting a record annual net profit of ¥550.8 billion. As of late 2025, Son directly and indirectly held ≈35% of SoftBank, with his net worth already exceeding $87.5 billion, laying the foundation for surpassing $100 billion.

Facing 'AI bubble' question (doubts), Son responded forcefully. He declared that the AI wave has just begun, potentially 50 times larger than the internet boom. He even compared it to the 1929 Great Depression:

'Back then, electrification and industrial mechanization-related industries crashed but continued growing for nearly a century. Current adjustments will only be the best investment opportunities.'""Of course, this crazy (frenzied) wealth creation game hides risks. SoftBank's current valuation discount narrowing highly depends on Arm's stock jumps and OpenAI's IPO expectations.

However, with SoftBank holding ≈90% of Arm's shares, the actual secondary market float is tiny, limiting short-term selling opportunities. This means the multi-billion-dollar paper gains remain largely unrealized.

Conclusion

'The greatest revolution in human history is happening.' When Masayoshi Son made this prediction, he also completed a glorious career turnaround. At SoftBank's 2025 annual shareholder meeting, he set a clear goal for all shareholders:

To build SoftBank into the world's leading platform in super-AI (ASI) within the next decade.

SoftBank's overtaking of Toyota and Son's return as Asia's richest person are merely surface phenomena of this capital drama. No one can board the new era's ship with old tickets. In a computing-powered future, whoever controls the underlying infrastructure will unlock the next era's wealth code. Son's capital spectacle has just begun.

References:

'Masayoshi Son Reclaims Richest Title' by Qiuchuji;

'Japan's Richest Man Regains Asia's Top Spot with Net Worth Exceeding $100 Billion' by National Business Daily;

'Masayoshi Son Finds His Next 'Alibaba'' by 36Kr Finance;

'Masayoshi Son's AI Future Bet: Scale May Be 50x Internet, Net Worth Surges $10B in a Day to Reclaim Asia's Richest' by TechWeb;

'Masayoshi Son Reclaims Asia's Richest Title' by Jiemian News;

'Earning ¥870 Billion! Japan's Richest Man Masayoshi Son 'Deified' Again' by Kanjian Finance;

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