Entrepreneur Masayoshi Son is hailed as a visionary and deal-maker whose focus is on the landscape centuries ahead, not merely the next quarterly report. That reputation is taking a hit following news that his U.S. telecommunications company Sprint will be purchased by T-Mobile. It is both good news and bad for Son: While he will lose control of his marquee U.S. investment, the deal — if approved — will loosen financial constraints on Son's other businesses.
Son is Japan's richest person, despite having reportedly lost more than three times his current wealth during the dot.com crash of 2000. He made his fortune with SoftBank, the software company, and shrewd investments — including an initial $20 million stake in Alibaba that is now a 30 percent stake in that $440 billion company — have turned it into the 38th-largest publicly traded company in the world and the fourth-largest in Japan.
One of Son's most important deals was his 2012 purchase of a 70 percent stake in the U.S. telecommunications company Sprint Nextel. He hoped to turn around the company, which had a reputation for poor service, a task that was made harder by the indelibility of some memories and his own debt burden, which prevented investments needed to fix Sprint networks.