[TOKYO] Masayoshi Son acknowledged the outlines of a succession plan, addressing what may be the single biggest concern among investors, and name-checked the head of SoftBank Group’s telecom unit Junichi Miyakawa.
Son said he plans to hold SoftBank’s reins another ten years, but added he has several candidates for its next chief in mind from within the Japanese technology group, speaking during a general shareholders’ meeting in Tokyo on Friday (Jun 27). The candidates work alongside the billionaire every day, although he has not disclosed who they are to anyone, the 67-year-old said.
While saying that he is healthy and intends to lead, Son added, “If I should become a barrier to growth, SoftBank should move to its next phase.” He then listed Miyakawa – who is now in charge of rolling out AI infrastructure within Japan – as someone who’s doing “an extremely solid job.”
“I feel very pleased, encouraged and reassured by his efforts,” he said. “As a result, I have almost never felt the need to interfere in what he does. I trust him.”
SoftBank’s shares rose as much as 3.2 per cent after his comments, buoyed by a broader rally that boosted the Nikkei Stock Average.
Past lieutenants who have been officially or unofficially in the running to be Son’s successor have included Nikesh Arora, Marcelo Claure and Katsunori Sago. All have left SoftBank.
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Son added, however, that he is passionate enough to work tirelessly for the next ten years to realise an era where artificial intelligence is pervasive in society.
SoftBank’s ability to finance big bets resides in part on fervent support from Japanese retail investors, who in the past have been quick to snatch up the tech investor’s bonds. Many voiced their fear about what would happen to the technology group without its charismatic founder.
One shareholder even asked if AI would either extend Son’s lifespan or make it possible for Son to somehow remotely control the company from beyond the grave. Son responded by saying that while he intends to use AI “more than anyone,” he did not see it replacing him.
The annual shareholders’ meeting has long been a platform for Son to share his vision of a future of tech-driven progress. Many shareholders have hung onto his words and their shares from before the dot-com boom and bust.
Son said he’s now cornered key artificial intelligence chip architecture, part of an ambition to become the world’s top platform in an age in which AI surpasses human abilities – or what he and other AI proponents call artificial super-intelligence.
“We want to become the world’s top platformer for ASI,” he said, adding that it’ll be a winner-take-all arena. SoftBank controls chip designer Arm Holdings and plans to invest as much as US$30 billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI. “These are indispensable for ASI,” he said, noting also that SoftBank has acquired Graphcore and has plans to buy Ampere Computing. “I’m all in.”
One of Son’s big ambitions includes a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to build a large AI manufacturing hub in Arizona, Bloomberg reported earlier. BLOOMBERG
