Ever wonder how a kid from Fukuoka—born with a Korean passport, carrying a Japanese alias, and bold enough to walk into Steve Jobs’s office sketching out the first iPhone—went on to tap Gulf royals for a $100 billion war chest?
We did too—so we asked the former editor-in-chief of the Financial Times who pieced it all together.
“I was living undercover.”
Barber opens the episode with Masa’s double-life: Zainichi Korean at home, and “Yasumoto” at school.
At sixteen Masa talked his parents into a one-way ticket to California, spent the days knocking the rust off his English, and filled his evenings cold-calling chipmakers until one finally picked up.
By the time he flew back, Japan’s telecom elite were still worshipping fax machines, and Son already had a software-distribution plan stuffed in his backpack.
The early home runs—Yahoo, Alibaba, and that iPhone coup
Once Son understood leverage, he started connecting very large dots:
- Yahoo, 1996 – Spotting Jerry Yang between meetings, Son waved a $100 million cheque most bankers refused to clear; the return financed his late-nineties deal spree.
- Alibaba, 2000 – A $20 million punt later worth well north of $100 billion once the company left Hangzhou for Wall Street.
- iPhone Japan, 2008 – Steve Jobs had heard enough carrier pitches; Son walked in with a hand-drawn mock-up and a promise to blow up Japan’s handset cartel; Jobs liked the audacity, and shook on the deal.
Every rain-maker needs an ensemble
Lionel believes that Son’s bold moves succeed, majorly because he surrounds himself with trusted allies.
Yoshitaka Kitao, a Nomura veteran, showed him how to unlock Japan’s bond market when the big banks kept their distance.
Rajeev Misra structured the Vodafone-Japan acquisition and later designed the high-powered Vision Fund.
Casino entrepreneur Sheldon Adelson opened doors at Trump Tower, and Steve Schwarzman quietly lent SoftBank his Wall Street standing.
Barber observes that Son tends these relationships like a patient gardener—nurturing generously, pruning when needed, and replanting whenever the soil stops yielding.
Vision Fund highs, WeWork lows, and a strategic disappearing act
We also dive into the high-flying years of the Vision Fund—$100 billion invested across Uber, DoorDash, Coupang, and yes, Adam Neumann’s incense-scented coworking dream—followed by the sharp correction.
When Vision Fund valuations cracked, Masa did what Barber calls his “Sun Tzu retreat.” He vanished from headlines, told investors he needed time to reflect, and quietly mapped the comeback.
The contrite tone fooled few insiders; it was more pit stop than penitence.
Project Stargate: the sequel
Masa’s next act is not modest.
For at least three years, Son has been courting Sam Altman and Larry Ellison, pitching a continental network of AI data centers and chip fabs that could swallow half a trillion dollars in capex.
Lionel doubts the final bill will reach the headline number, yet reminds us that Son once raised sixty billion over a single Riyadh lunch.
Whatever you make of the ambition, it’s hard to write him off.
What surprised Lionel
- How tender Masa gets when he talks about hiding his Korean ancestry.
- How casually he treated nine-figure options trades inside his in-house hedge fund (“North Star”).
- A clear contrast between Son’s public and private selves—more reflective strategist behind closed doors than the bold persona he often projects.
Listen in
We also get into:
- Why American billionaires shoot for Mars while Japanese moguls shoot for Mountain View.
- Barber’s take on whether SoftBank minus Masa is anything more than a logo.
- The Japanese edition of Gambling Man (out this month).
Find the full conversation on The Coral Capital Podcast—YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts—and decide for yourself whether Masayoshi Son is tech’s boldest visionary or its luckiest risk-taker. Maybe both.
Founding Partner & CEO @ Coral Capital
