SoftBank CEO Son Masayoshi announced at the shareholders’ meeting on the 20th that SoftBank is ready to go all-in on artificial intelligence (AI) with the goal of creating a super AI. He also mentioned the failed acquisition negotiations with NVIDIA CEO Huang Renxun during the meeting. Son expressed regret for selling off all of SoftBank’s 4.9% stake in NVIDIA in early 2019, missing out on a potential profit of $15 billion.
This year, AI concept companies have seen continuous growth, driving up stock prices. The stock price of AI chip giant NVIDIA has risen by 162.76% since the beginning of the year, briefly becoming the world’s largest company by market value on the 20th. CEO Huang Renxun’s net worth also increased by $4 billion that day, ranking him as the 11th richest person in the world.
Against this backdrop, SoftBank Group CEO Son Masayoshi stated at the shareholders’ meeting on the 20th, as reported by Reuters, that SoftBank is placing all its hopes on AI. He emphasized SoftBank’s mission to achieve super AI that surpasses human capabilities by a factor of 10,000, opening up an era of super AI and assisting human progress. Son also stated that he expects the realization of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) within the next 3 to 5 years, earlier than he originally anticipated.
During the shareholders’ meeting, Son also mentioned the failed acquisition talks with NVIDIA CEO Huang Renxun in 2016. At that time, Son planned to acquire NVIDIA and take the company private while recruiting Huang Renxun. However, the two parties did not reach an agreement in the end. Son expressed regret about this during the meeting.
Furthermore, Son openly lamented during the meeting that SoftBank sold off all its NVIDIA stocks many years ago. It is known that SoftBank’s Vision Fund bought a 4.9% stake in NVIDIA for $700 million and sold all of its NVIDIA shares in early 2019, earning approximately $3.3 billion in return. This transaction resulted in an impressive return on investment of 371% for the Vision Fund, making it a satisfactory investment at the time.
However, considering NVIDIA’s current market value, the 4.9% stake in NVIDIA would be worth around $152.39 billion. If SoftBank still held this stake, the return on investment would be a staggering 21,670%.
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