Masayoshi Son has become synonymous with SoftBank Group and its risky bets in his four decades running the company. Now Yoshimitsu Goto is taking over Son’s role briefing investors once a quarter about the firm’s performance.
Who? Goto is SoftBank’s little-known finance chief, who has earned Son’s trust by helping him steer the world’s biggest tech investor through the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic and a ferocious downturn in the technology market.
For decades, Son used his platform during the quarterly results to pitch his investment concepts to the public. Staffers worked for days to capture just the right images and messaging for the billionaire’s ideas, including golden eggs dancing under a goose, tofu on conveyor belts and flying unicorns. He proselytized a bright, technology-driven future, winning die-hard fans who held onto SoftBank’s stock through some of the sector’s biggest downturns.