Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang: Masayoshi Son is recasting himself into an AI player with his $100 billion bet
Listen and subscribe to Opening Bid on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
The incoming Trump administration is feeling the warm embrace of Big Tech.
Several billionaire tech titans such as Amazon ( AMZN ) founder Jeff Bezos have met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago country club in recent weeks. Others like Meta ( META ) co-founder Mark Zuckerberg are donating money to the returning president's inauguration fund. Meta is also overhauling its board to include a UFC leader friendly with Trump .
Among the bolder overtures has been billionaire SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son , who posed with Trump for a photo op at Mar-a-Lago in mid-December and announced plans for a $100 billion US investment over four years.
Son, known affectionately as Masa, founded Japan-based SoftBank in 1981 with an eye toward investing in next-generation tech companies.
He's no stranger to pledging funds under a bounty of circumstances, inducing a Trump-led administration. In 2016, he pledged $50 billion to the US, coinciding with Trump's first presidential term. At the time, Trump shared on social media that Masa would not have made the pledge if he “had not won the election.”
The current doubled amount is expected to be deployed into AI infrastructure projects, such as energy, data centers, and chips, according to the New York Times.
The new investment will take place over the coming four-year period of Trump's administration. Trump said Son was pledging the money “because he feels very optimistic about our country” and declared it “a monumental demonstration of confidence in America’s future.”
Read more: Inside the future of AI
Son also has a longstanding, enthusiastic relationship with tech veteran Yang.
SoftBank invested in Yahoo in its early days, and Son and Yang have kept their mutual respect for one another alive and well as Yang became the founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures. In a conversation with Startups.com’s team, Yang shared that Son is “a huge character in all of this … and by far the best investor in the space.”
Son has an “innate sense for people and he literally will look at you or have a meal with you and basically, he’s all in,” Yang told Startups.com.
With his latest pledge, it's possible Son is looking to “recast himself into a player in the AI world. It won’t surprise me that he has even bigger ambitions,” Yang said. “That’s something he’s done his whole career starting in the late 80s — so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s coming out with big numbers and swinging.”
Regarding what he might do, “it’s really obviously a concept that he’ll need to find ways to execute against,” said Yang. “I think Masa is one of the most bold, visionary thinkers.”
Brian Sozzi fields insight-filled conversations and chats with the biggest names in business and markets on Opening Bid . You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service .
Grace Williams is a writer for Yahoo Finance.
