SoftBank Shares Drop, Masayoshi Son Loses $4.6 Billion

SoftBank Group experienced a dramatic decline in its stock price on Monday, plummeting nearly 19% in a global market downturn. This significant drop resulted in a loss of approximately $4.6 billion for founder Masayoshi Son, as reported by Forbes' real-time billionaires list. Following this decline, SoftBank's shares are now only 1.7% higher for the year, reflecting a stark contrast to their previous performance. The downturn in SoftBank's stock began last Thursday, coinciding with a broader decline in Japanese equities triggered by the Bank of Japan's decision to raise its benchmark interest rate. The Nikkei 225 index suffered a notable 12.4% loss, marking its worst day since the infamous "Black Monday" of 1987. This market turbulence has erased about $28.3 billion from SoftBank's overall value since the close of trading on Wednesday. Prior to this recent slump, SoftBank's stock had seen a resurgence, reaching record highs earlier in the year, largely due to the recovery of its Vision Fund division. The surge was further bolstered by a significant increase in the share price of Arm, the British chip designer predominantly owned by SoftBank, which had contributed positively to the company's stock performance. Masayoshi Son, who has largely remained out of the public eye, made a notable return in June to share his ambitious vision for the future of artificial intelligence, predicting that AI could eventually become 10,000 times smarter than humans.