Masayoshi Son acknowledged the outlines of a succession plan at SoftBank Group Corp., addressing what may be investors’ single biggest concern regarding the long-term future of the Japanese company.
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 technology group. The candidates work alongside the billionaire every day, although he hasn’t disclosed who they are to anyone, the 67-year-old said during a general shareholders’ meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
Son fielded repeated questions from shareholders worried about a SoftBank without its charismatic leader or a succession plan. The chief executive officer responded that he’s healthy and intends to continue to lead and aim to realize an era where artificial intelligence is pervasive in society.
“I look forward to seeing a successor grow as quickly as possible so that I can appoint them, but I still have some passion left and want to keep at this,” he said. Son added, however, that he’s mentally prepared to hand over the reins at any time, should he stand in the way of SoftBank’s growth.
He mentioned the head of telecom unit, Junichi Miyakawa, who is in charge of rolling out AI infrastructure within Japan and widely seen as an example of how others in the company can lead as Son shifts his focus elsewhere.
Miyakawa is doing “an extremely solid job,” Son said. “I feel very pleased, encouraged and reassured by his efforts. As a result, I have almost never felt the need to interfere in what he does. I trust him.”
SoftBank’s shares rose to close up 2.5%, 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.
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 didn’t 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 investors have hung onto his words and their shares from before the dot-com boom and bust.
Shareholders asked about SoftBank’s ability to finance big bets such as the Stargate data center projects, and Son’s ability to deliver on his goals to lead in an age of AI.
One such project is a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build a large AI manufacturing hub in Arizona, Bloomberg reported earlier.
Son said he’s now cornered key artificial intelligence chip architecture and seeks to become the world’s top platform by the time 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 Plc and plans to invest as much as $30 billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI. “These are indispensable for ASI,” he said, noting also that SoftBank has acquired Graphcore Ltd. and has plans to buy Ampere Computing LLC. “I’m all in.”
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