Journalist. And nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer, even though i have a day job of running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that makes somebody tick . You are clearly one of the worlds most Successful Technology investors and one of the worlds most successful businessmen. Let me start by asking you about a fund you are now raising, the vision fund. It is supposed to be a fund of 100 billion . Masayoshi yes. David that would be the biggest fund ever raised. So when you told people you were , going to raise a 100 billion fund did they tell you were a , little bit crazy . Masayoshi some people said. [laughter] david you had a meeting with the matter was the deputy crown prince of saudi arabia who is , now the crown prince of saudi arabia. As i understand the story you , went in and in one hour convinced him to invest 45 billion. Masayoshi no, no, it is not true. David ok. [laughter] 45 minutes 45 , billion. [laughter] david sorry, i apologize. Masayoshi 1 billion per minute. [laughter] david what could you have said that was that persuasive to get 45 billion in one meeting . Masayoshi i said, you came to tokyo the first time. I want to give you a gift. I want to give you a tokyo gift, a 1 trillion gift. And he opened up his eyes and said, ok. Now, it is interesting. Him and said, here is how i can give you a 1 trillion gift. You invest 100 billion to my fund. I give you 1 trillion. David but what is it you told people and what was the vision you gave them . Masayoshi well, one vision, which is singularity. Singularity is the concept that the computing power, computer Artificial Intelligence past to mankinds brains. David the singularity is the concept, that is the word means, that is the point at which a computer becomes smarter than a human brain. Masayoshi yes. Today, already, computers are smarter than mankind at chess, or go, or weather forecasts. In some expert systems, the computer is already smarter. But in 30 years, most of the subjects that we are thinking, they will be smarter than us. That is my belief. David lets go back and talk about your upbringing a bit. So, you are of korean descent. Your grandfather came from korea and moved to japan many years ago. And your parents were born in japan. Did you suffer discrimination growing up in japan . Masayoshi yes, i had some experience. But i feel now it was good. That made me, you know, stronger. To work harder. I am not to prove that different from any other guys. Not inferior. So i had to work harder to prove the value. David your family adopted a japanese name at one point. Masayoshi actually in japan, there was some period, the japanese government forced every korean to change to a japanese name. So, it was not their intention. We had to. David you have to change . Masayoshi we have to change. That made me even more harder, because i was treated that i was hiding something. It was even tougher. David you did not grow up in tokyo. You grew up in a relatively small town in japan. Is that right . Masayoshi yes. Masayoshiin the southern part. David the southern part of japan. It was said you are interested in meeting the head of mcdonalds. Why were you interested in meeting the head of mcdonalds . Did you like mcdonalds food, or what was it . Masayoshi he wrote the book, and the book became the bestseller. I was so impressed and said, oh my god, this is great and the guy who wrote about it must be great [laughter] david so how old were you when , you wanted to meet him . Masayoshi 16. David 16. So you managed to get a meeting , with him. Masayoshi i called his assistant, longdistance call. Back then it was so expensive. I made almost 100 calls 60 calls. , this is my name, i am a student, and could you ask him to spare me some time . Could you ask him . She said oh, i will try, but he is not going to meet with the student. I said well, dont decide by yourself. Let him decide. Right . [laughter] masayoshi so i spoke with the assistants so many times. And they dont give me the right answers so i said, this is a waste of my telephone bill. So i flew into tokyo and said, i , came because the phone call was becoming more expensive than an air ticket. [laughter] david so, what happened . Masayoshi so i said tell him , exactly the way i said it. You dont have to look at me. You dont have to talk to me. You can keep on working whatever you are doing. I just want to see his face. [laughter] masayoshi for three minutes. David ok. Masayoshi so i am not bothering him. I am just so impressed and respect him, i want to see him. And if you tell him that i am not going to bother him, his , his money. I am not going to damage his life, he said, ok. Actually, he spent 15 minutes with me, talking facetoface. David he gave you some advice, which was to learn masayoshi yeah, i asked him what business should i do . Computer. That is the one. If i were you at your age at this time, you know, this is, dont look at the past industries. Look at the future industries. That is the one, the computer industry, that is the one you should focus on. If i were you, that is the one, so i said, wow, great. David ok. So he gave you that advice, you , were number one in your class and went to university of california at berkeley. When you were there you were not so much a student, but doing business on the side. Masayoshi well, i was a good student. But i said, five minutes i would allow, other than study. I have to make money. I want to earn 10,000 per month. And i would allow me, myself, five minutes a day. So, i asked my friends, is there a good job that i can earn 10,000 in five minutes a day . [laughter] say, you my friend are crazy. Impossible. Nothing like that. Do want to sell drugs . [laughter] masayoshi so i said, no, no, i dont want to do that. So i said, ok, what is the best, most efficient use of my time . It is the invention. The invention. I have to file a patent. If i get the patent, five minutes. If i focus, i can make some idea. So, i sent an alarm clock for five minutes. Tick, tick, tick. In five minutes i said come, invention, come [laughter] masayoshi come right . [laughter] masayoshi so, i did that. David and it worked . Masayoshi it worked. David you invented a machine to help people translate languages . Masayoshi yes. The first one was an electric dictionary. Many students use the electric dictionary. The first one ever made was by myself. David First Electric dictionary. And you sold it to sharp and made a lot of money. Masayoshi yeah, 1. 7 million. David so what did you do with , 1. 7 million then . Masayoshi well i used it to , start softbank. David did you move back . Masayoshi i did one more project and made another 1. 5 million. So, i made 3. 2 million in 18 months. So, that is better than 10,000 per month. David right. Masayoshi i told that to my friends, look, i got 3. 2 million, and i kept working only five minutes a day as i promised , you. David then after you graduated, and you made these successful inventions, you moved back to japan. Why did you move back to japan . Not that it is not a great place to move back to, but you are in the Silicon Valley area. Why not stay there . Masayoshi i created a company and my employees asked me to stay. But i said no. I promised to my mother when i decided to come study in the states. She was crying in the airport, mom. Said, no, dont cry, after i graduate from school, i will come back, i promise. She said no, you dont come back. This is forever. Farewell. No, i promise you, dont worry, i promise you. So i kept my word. , david recently, you did the biggest investment you have ever made in a Company Called a. R. M. Masayoshi they have 99 market share for any smartphone you have in your pocket. I think the company is going to be more valuable than google. David all right, so you moved back to japan and started a Company Called softbank. What was softbanks purpose . What kind of business were you in . Masayoshi so, that was the beginning of the time of the personal computer got started. So, but there was hardware, not enough software. So, i aggregate all kinds of software from the Small Software houses. Wholesale to the pc stores. So, it is like a bank. Softwares bank, not the money bank. The software wholesaling, storing in my warehouse, but it is like a concept. David so it is very successful, softbanks stock was going up. And then you decide at some point to start investing. One of the investments you made is considered by many people to be the most successful investment in the history of mankind. You invested roughly 20 million in alibaba. At the time it went public, it was worth roughly 90 billion. So, 20 million to 90 billion is a return of 4500 . Now jack ma is a very , distinguished individual, and now one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. What is it that made you feel this was worth putting in 20 million . Masayoshi well, he had no business plan. And zero revenue. Employees, maybe 35, 40 employees. But his eyes was very strong. Strong eyes. Shining eyes. I could tell from the way he talked, the way he looked, he has the charisma. He has a leadership. But his Business Model was wrong. It was the way he talked, the way he can bring Young Chinese people following him. David before yahoo was so famous, you made an investment in it that was very successful. How did you hear of yahoo . Masayoshi yahoo u. S. Was still private, 15 employees. And i convince them to take 100 million of our investment. Time, they grew from 15 to 35 people. 35 people. 100 million to own 35 . And actually went ipo and made a , great return. At the same time, i convinced them to start a joint venture, the directors of the board of yahoo japan, to start another company. We put 1. 2 million, they put 0. 8 million. 2 million startup capital. We owned a 60 . David lets talk about one big mistake you made overall. Obviously you are very , successful in almost everything you touch, but you were making a lot of internet investments around the turnofthecentury, 19992001. The market went down in the tech crash, and it is said that you personally lost 70 billion of net worth. The greatest loss that any human being has ever suffered financially. So, how did you feel losing 70 billion of net worth . Masayoshi one year before that, actually, my personal net worth was increasing 10 billion per week. [laughter] masayoshi for three days, i became richer than bill gates. David wow. Did that upset him . [laughter] masayoshi no, the four i told anybody else, our stock started crashing. David ok. [laughter] masayoshi so, six months after that, our share price went down 99 . So, we almost went bankrupt. And somehow, i survived. David you rebuilt your business. And among the things you did, was you bought wellknown companies. You bought vodafones mobile telephone business in japan. Masayoshi at that time, i said, now is the time to go to the next stage, which is the internet will become mobile internet. So, i had to either get the license from the government, or the spectrum, or acquire Vodafone Japan. And first, i applied for the license to the government. And the government said no, there is no more spectrum. I actually sued the government. For one year, a big fight. But then Vodafone Japan became available. 20 billion. I have 2 billion. So 18 billion short. , david where did you get the money . Masayoshi so, i convinced the bank, you know, that the Vodafone Japan i am going to , turn around and become successful and a great cash flow. They believed me and lent the money. David and they did . Masayoshi they did. David and it turned out to be very successful. Regionally you did the biggest , investment you have ever made in a Company Called a. R. M. , which is a Semiconductor Manufacturer in london. Why did you spend 31 billion buying a Semiconductor Manufacturer when many people think that is not the future . Masayoshi it was actually 34 billion. David 34 . Masayoshi yeah. It is not the manufacturer. It is the design house. They design all the chips. They have 99 market share for any smartphone you have in your pocket. A. R. M. Has 99 market share. Right . In the next 20 years, they will ship one trillion chips, design for one trillion chips. So, i said, this is the company. Nobody can live on the earth anymore without chips. Chip is everywhere. In the car, the refrigerator, everywhere. So, if chip is something that everybody needs, and one company has 90 market share there must , be a value. They are not monetizing well enough, but if i own it, we can monetize much better. That is my belief. So, i think the company is going to be more valuable than google. Available. It is a private company now. David so you dont worry robots , could become so smart they would wipe out humanity as some people worry . Masayoshi there is a danger, but when the robots super intelligence goes beyond mankinds intelligence, fighting is not an efficient way of living. That harmony is better. Now, in the future you , are a big believer in robots. It is your view Artificial Intelligence is a good thing and ultimately will not hurt humanity, is that correct . Masayoshi right. David but you dont worry that robots could become so smart that they could wipe out humanity as some people worry . ,masayoshi yeah there is a , danger of that. There is a danger. But if you look at the mankinds history, people were killing each other with many battles among different tribes and so on. But todays world, we dont have that kind of things in everyday life. We are more civilized. So, when the robots super intelligence goes beyond mankinds intelligence, and they say fighting is not an efficient way of living, that harmony is better. It is more social. So, we are going to live in harmony. They think about us. They help us. Andthey tried to amuse us, have a good love for each other. David what gives you the greatest pleasure in the world . The thing is, you know, i have a vision. I have a vision of singularity. That is really coming. So we created vision fund. , we go and change the world together, and create a better world. A better world for human living. So that excites me. About whatthinking is the future . Lives ofn change the people for the better of humanity . So, that people do not need to die for unnecessary reasons, havingving accidents, or the disease, or having the disaster. So to protect humans from all , that sadness is a good thing. Right . So, imagining those things, and investing, and creating a group, and having great products, great solutions, is exciting. David and today, you come back and have enormous net worth by any human standard, one of the richest men in the world. What do you do with all this money . Masayoshi well, i have not decided what to do. David you have not decided . But you are 60 years old, you have to decide at some point. Masayoshi deciding how to spend with respect is more difficult than making money. That was a headache i had. When i became so rich david you were the richest man, you had that headache, lost that headache and now you have it again, right . [laughter] david any plans of doing this for the next 20 years . Masayoshi at the age of 19 i created my 50 year life plan. And in my age of 60s, between 60 and 69, i would decided my successor, and have my successor keep on running it. So, in my next 10 years, i have to do that. But even after i find a successor and give him a baton to run as a captain of a ship i , would probably stay working with him, coaching him. As long as i live, probably, i cannot forget about this excitement. David your parents are still alive. They must be extremely proud of you. Masayoshi they actually are very proud of me, and very happy. We are a happy family. And, you know, we dont live together, but they call me occasionally. And, you know, my dad is a funny guy. He has unique ideas, crazy ideas. And he always calls me and says, masa, i have an idea. You have to do this. He knows everything i am doing. Verye is very creative, smart. He talk about business to me all the time. David now you are japanese, but , you are of korean descent. But you are different from most Japanese Business people that are very consensusoriented, not as entrepreneurial as you are. Has that been a challenge for you in building up your business in japan . Masayoshi yeah. Lots of challenge, but the uniqueness is actually good. You know . If the pack of other people go this way. I am unique. I have more opportunities. , if you flipculty over, becomes an advantage. David one final question. If you could live with your life over, is there anything you would do differently than you have done . Masayoshi i may. But this is the life i am enjoying so much. That i would love to do it again. Lucky. So i was so close to fall down from the cliff. I do not know how i could do it twice. [laughter] david wow. Masayoshi but this is definitely an exciting life. I am having fun. Nejra etfs on a tear, the blackrock ceo mary think seeing huge inflows in part because of mifid 2. We look at it as a net positive. Mifid ii is creating more transparency. We need more transparency. Nejra bitcoin boom or bust . We discuss the future of cryptocurrencies and if regulators can work fast enough to effectively role in the rule on the changing marketplace
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