It's a long journey. There will be good times, and there will be bad times, but SoftBank is always there.
— Masayoshi Son
I was richer than Bill Gates for 3 days.
I believe this artificial intelligence is going to be our partner. If we misuse it, it will be a risk. If we use it right, it can be our partner.
The autonomous car is definitely coming, and when that stage comes, this ride-share business becomes even more important.
Alibaba model is the model that I am supporting in China, in India, and even in Japan.
Japan had an energy crisis. I thought, instead of just worrying about it, I should take some kind of responsibility to provide the solutions.
Indian software engineers are the best in the world; even in Silicon Valley, the best software engineers are Indians.
I am going to support Ola.
It's easy to look at where your pieces are now and place the next one nearby.
Softbank has always been a service firm, and with the Internet, services became the center of the technology industry.
I want to be number one.
Traditional companies have to start looking into themselves to offer more opportunities in their companies by starting new subsidiaries and joint ventures.
If Japanese cannot have new babies quick enough, then the government should start importing workers faster.
I'm the king of debt.
As a student, I had a hobby of inventing new ideas for products. For me, thinking of new businesses is like inventing new products.
All human beings are the same. In the United States, people come from all over the world, all races, all backgrounds. And they're all doing what they want, many scoring huge successes. When I saw that, I became more open. It freed my soul.
In tennis, you strike a ball just after the rebound for the fastest return. It's the same with investment.
It's actually sad to be rich.
India has the best opportunity ahead of us.
We believe the singularity is inevitable, and all businesses will be redefined as computers overtake humans in intelligence.
I don't care whether the technology is invented by our employees. I want to bring everybody's innovations into our ecosystem together.
In Internet in general, there are security, privacy, and many other issues.
Internet as a service is like culture that you have to understand, and each country has a local culture.
InMobi is not just an India-focused company, but it is a global player.
We saw a big bang in PCs; we saw a big bang in the Internet. I believe the next big bang is going to be even bigger. To be ready for that, we need to set the foundation, and that foundation is SoftBank Vision Fund.
I am the largest shareholder in SoftBank; I share the same interest as the other shareholders.
It would take enormous expertise for Amazon to win in every category. Do you think McDonald's could be number one in hamburgers, seafood, and Chinese food?
I know I should not be a hindrance to SoftBank's future growth and that I need to pass on the baton to the younger generation.
The pension system ties you to companies much longer in Japan.
My original intent for investing into Sprint - the main strategy was to buy Sprint and T-Mobile at the same time, so we'd have a critical mass to fight against AT&T and Verizon. The U.S. government didn't accept that. They rejected it. So my fundamental strategy was broken.
Just believe in the future and direction of the capability that ARM has. Go deep and build a better future, both for the company and for its contribution to the industry. That's what I want ARM to do: invest more the future.
I started Softbank in 1981, a year and a half after I came back from the United States, after graduating from Berkeley. I wanted to start my own company when I came back to Japan.
Being educated in the United States gave me a good understanding of American culture. I think I got a lot of influence from the entrepreneurial mind in the United States.
I don't like accidental success. It's what Bill Gates calls 'random,' a term he uses with the opposite of respect.
If I go to the department store, I get no excitement: I can buy the entire department store instead of one bag. So I lost excitement of shopping.
I am the man who keeps his words.
I'm still committed to the success of the U.K. and the belief of the strong intelligence and passion and determination of the British people. I'm a strong believer of their long-term historical success.
Mankind had the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and now this third one, the information revolution.
Of course Jack Ma was the guy who impressed me.
To have real success and roots in a society, there has to be a local champion, and hence we believe in identifying a local entrepreneur.
I see a lot of opportunity in Internet-related start-ups, and second is the solar business.
Uber is redefining the transportation industry now; Airbnb is doing it to the hotel industry. You can expect that to happen in every single industry.
My philosophy is that the digital revolution will make mankind happier and more productive, and that won't change over the next 300 years. If you don't stick to that original philosophy, even perfect control of a bunch of companies isn't going to do you any good.
If you live in the States, you see the windmill signal on your smartphone all the time. It's like living in Beijing air. You have to remember the blue sky.
I think I became an entrepreneur because I have my way of doing business... to do that, you have to have your own company. But if you have your own company, you're an outsider in the Japanese business world. It's difficult. But that's life.
The energy in Silicon Valley is because of the very talented engineers immigrating from around the world, especially Indians and Chinese. They are the best engineers, and Japan doesn't have enough of them.
The best opportunity for return on investment is in the information revolution.
Wisdom and knowledge are the most valuable things in the body.
People usually compare the computer to the head of the human being. I would say that hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom. And data is the knowledge.
A person's life is over in 50, 100 years. But a company lives on through the people it is composed of, and SoftBank group has to survive even after I'm gone.
