Is Masayoshi Son a genius or a hubristic dupe chasing overpriced deals that imperil SoftBank? While the year ahead may render an answer, let's applaud the audacity of a man doing more than perhaps any other to rekindle Japan's animal spirits.
Son, after all, is the poster child of what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hoped to achieve with his Abenomics reflation scheme. The 60-year-old Son is taking risks. He's discarding the groupthink that deadened Japan's innovative mojo. He's generating fresh growth and wealth. He's putting the Japan brand back on the global radar screen, and doing so almost single-handedly.
Son's breathtaking $9 billion lifeline for Uber, Silicon Valley's most viral company of the moment, is as out of character as corporate Japan bets get. The gamble capped off a year in which Son's $100 billion Vision Fund changed the face of venture capitalism, firing cash, seemingly scattershot, at ride-sharing outfits, satellite builders, office managers, chipmakers, robot designers, indoor farmers, you name it.
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