Photo ops of SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son sometimes show him
chatting happily with his company's humanoid robot, the childlike
Pepper, or grinning as President Donald Trump heaps praise on him for
creating American jobs.
It's clear Son, Japan's richest person, stands out in Japan Inc.
He is no "salaryman" president, those typical executives who rise
gradually and quietly through the ranks, Japan-style, in a corporate
culture that frowns upon mavericks and tends to squelch self-made
ventures.
Since founding SoftBank in 1981, Son, a Japanese of Korean ancestry who
graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, has won both
criticism and accolades as a daring investor who has gathered partners
in diverse technology sectors from around the world.
Sometimes those adventures cost him. But often, they have paid off.
SoftBank Group Corp. reported Monday a 98 percent drop in its April-June
profit at 5.5 billion yen ($50 million) on losses stemming from
investments in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.
Quarterly sales rose 3 percent to 2.19 trillion yen ($20 billion), while
the Tokyo-based company's operating profit, which highlights core
operations, logged a 50 percent increase year-on-year as its U.S. mobile
carrier Sprint, previously a drain on the bottom line, boosted
profitability.
The first telecoms carrier to offer the iPhone
in Japan, SoftBank has bought British semiconductor company ARM. Its
acquisition of U.S. robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics is awaiting
regulatory approval. Recently, it has announced it will invest in
Encored, a U.S. company specializing in IoT technology in the energy
sector.
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