SoftBank Group

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Lore & Background

SoftBank was founded on 3 September 1981 by then-24-year-old Masayoshi Son as a software distributor. The company entered the publishing business in May 1982 with the launches of the Oh! PC and Oh! MZ magazines, about NEC and Sharp computers respectively. Oh! PC had a circulation of 140,000 copies by 1989. It would go on to become Japan's largest publisher of computer and technology magazines and trade shows. In 1994, the company went public, valued at $3 billion. In September 1995, SoftBank agreed to purchase US-based Ziff Davis publishing for $2.1 billion. In 1996, SoftBank formed a joint venture with American internet company Yahoo!, creating Yahoo! Japan. In another highly publicized investment, SoftBank bought 80% of memory manufacturer Kingston Technology in 1996. When the owners-founders (John Tu and David Sun) announced plans to distribute $100,000,000 of the $1.5B windfall to Kingston employees, it created a very high-profile media stir. A few years later, in 1999, after the market for memory softened substantially, SoftBank sold the company back at a loss to the original owners for about a third of the original price. In 2000, SoftBank made its most successful investment – $20 million to a then-fledgling Chinese Internet venture called Alibaba. This investment turned into $60 billion when Alibaba went public in September 2014.

Reader's Guide

SoftBank Group's significance lies in its role as a transformative force in global technology investment, particularly through its Vision Fund, which reshaped venture capital by deploying massive capital into startups and established tech firms. Its investments, such as the early stake in Alibaba and the acquisition of Arm Holdings, have had lasting impacts on e-commerce and semiconductor industries. The company's controversial leadership under Masayoshi Son, marked by high-profile bets on unprofitable unicorns like WeWork, illustrates both the potential and risks of aggressive tech investing. The Stargate project, announced in January 2025 with OpenAI, MGX, and Oracle, represents a major push into AI infrastructure, funded over four years at an estimated $500 billion. SoftBank's legacy includes its role in Japan's mobile market through SoftBank Corp, the third-largest wireless carrier, and its international stockholdings in companies like Deutsche Telekom and OYO Rooms. The company's logo, based on the flag of the Kaientai trading company founded in 1865, reflects a historical nod to Japanese entrepreneurship.

Did You Know?

• SoftBank's logo is based on the flag of the Kaientai, a naval trading company founded in 1865 by Sakamoto Ryōma.
• In 2008, SoftBank collaborated with Tiffany & Co. on a limited-edition phone containing more than 400 platinum diamonds, totaling more than 20 carats, costing more than 100,000,000 yen.
• SoftBank's $20 million investment in Alibaba in 2000 turned into $60 billion when Alibaba went public in September 2014.
• The Stargate project, announced in January 2025, is estimated to cost $500 billion and will be funded over four years.
• SoftBank's primary lender is Mizuho Financial Group, though the company does not affiliate itself with any traditional keiretsu.

From Magazine Publisher to Global Powerhouse

SoftBank Group traces its origins to a 24-year-old Masayoshi Son, who on 3 September 1981 launched SOFTBANK Corp as a software distributor. Within a year, the young entrepreneur pivoted into publishing, debuting Oh! PC and Oh! MZ magazines covering NEC and Sharp computers. By 1989, Oh! PC alone was circulating 140,000 copies, and the company grew into Japan's dominant publisher of computer and technology periodicals and trade shows. The trajectory accelerated dramatically in 1994 when the firm went public at a $3 billion valuation, and in September 1995 Son sealed a $2.1 billion purchase of American publisher Ziff Davis. In 1996 he acquired COMDEX for $800 million and formed a joint venture with Yahoo! that would reshape Japanese internet access. What began as a small software shop had, within fifteen years, become a holding company with a global publishing and technology footprint, setting the stage for the investment empire that followed.

The Art of the Outsized Bet

SoftBank's investment record is defined by a willingness to place enormous stakes on high-risk technology ventures, sometimes with spectacular payoff and sometimes with painful losses. The most celebrated example arrived in 2000, when the group put $20 million into a fledgling Chinese internet startup called Alibaba; by the time that company listed publicly in September 2014, the position was worth roughly $60 billion. Not every wager landed so cleanly. In 1996, SoftBank bought an 80% stake in memory chip maker Kingston Technology, a deal that became a media sensation when the founders announced they would hand $100 million of the $1.5 billion windfall to their own employees. When the memory market soured, SoftBank sold the company back to its original owners in 1999 for roughly a third of the purchase price. Today the portfolio spans Arm, OYO Rooms, WeWork, Deutsche Telekom, and dozens of unprofitable unicorns across robotics, biotechnology, proptech, and logistics, all anchored by the Vision Fund, a vehicle with over $100 billion in capital that drew sovereign wealth investors from the Middle East and stands as the largest technology-focused venture fund in the world.

Building a Telecom Giant

Beyond its investment arm, SoftBank carved out a dominant position in telecommunications that reshaped Japan's mobile landscape. On 17 March 2006, SoftBank announced its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, a move that gave it a foothold in the country's $78 billion mobile market; by 1 October 2006 the carrier had been rebranded as SoftBank Mobile. The company continued consolidating: it acquired competitor eAccess in October 2012, absorbed Willcom as a wholly owned subsidiary in July 2013, and merged the two into a new brand, Ymobile. On the other side of the Pacific, SoftBank stunned Wall Street in October 2012 by announcing a $20 billion bid for a 70% stake in Sprint Nextel; the FCC approved the deal in July 2013 at $22.2 billion for 78% ownership, and SoftBank quickly pushed its share to 80%. Domestically, the group's SoftBank Corporation affiliate had grown to become Japan's third-largest wireless carrier, reporting 45.621 million subscribers as of March 2021. Even the marketing reflected the company's appetite for spectacle, as seen in a 2008 collaboration with Tiffany & Co. on a limited-edition handset encrusted with over 400 platinum diamonds worth more than 100 million yen.

Stargate and the AI Infrastructure Bet

In January 2025, SoftBank announced a project that would dwarf anything in its history: Stargate, a joint artificial-intelligence infrastructure initiative launched alongside OpenAI, MGX, and Oracle in coordination with the U.S. government. The venture is estimated at $500 billion, to be funded over a four-year horizon, and is explicitly framed around building American-made AI capacity on American soil, a point U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized publicly. For a company whose identity is built on taking massive, concentrated bets on emerging technology, Stargate represents the logical culmination of a strategy that began with a $20 million Alibaba check two decades earlier. It also signals a shift from portfolio investment in individual AI firms to direct ownership of the physical compute layer that underpins the entire industry. SoftBank's 2025 Forbes Global 2000 ranking at 130th among the world's largest public companies underscores the scale of the enterprise now committing half a trillion dollars to a single infrastructure play, with its primary banking relationship running through Mizuho Financial Group.