Who We Are — SoftBank Group Report 2024

Information Revolution—Happiness for everyone

Since its founding, the Group has always remained true to its goal of accelerating the Information Revolution to make the world a happier place.

Just what is happiness?

Some might say happiness is to love and be loved in return, or to make the most of each day. Others might derive happiness from self-expression. Still others might find happiness in something as simple as a smile. Above all,the Group equates happiness with inspiration. Through our business, we strive to bring emotional meaning and happiness to lives. In everything we do, we aim to drive the Information Revolution and build a more connected, empowered, and joyful world. This unchanging kokorozashi (mission) is encapsulated in our philosophy, Information Revolution—Happiness for everyone.

Humankind stands on the cusp of the digital Big Bang. Computing performance is increasing dramatically, and we are getting ever closer to an age of super-intelligent machines that will surpass human ability. Our mission is to harness the raw, unlimited power of the Information Revolution and channel it in a direction that makes people happier. This aspiration will continue to drive our organization toward further growth for many years to come.

Imagine a group of visionaries who share the same unshakable spirit (kokorozashi). They act with one mind to achieve their ideals, braving all dangers to usher in a new era amid upheaval. The Group draws inspiration from one such group—the Kaientai, an enterprising shipping company founded in 1865 by the visionary Sakamoto Ryoma. Supplied with the best intelligence and possessing abundant knowledge and wisdom, the Kaientai and its founder rejected ageworn feudalistic values in favor of free thinking and bold action. In this way, they led a revolution that resulted in the modernization of Japan. Our corporate logo derives from the Kaientai’s flag. It represents our admiration for and belief in the Kaientai’s singleminded pursuit of their vision, which imagined a Japan 100 years into the future.

The Group is a fleet of similar visionaries. Our vessels fly the banner of the 21st-century Kaientai, symbolizing our own singleminded pursuit of a vision: Information Revolution—Happiness for everyone.

To realize our core philosophy and vision, we invest in the Information Revolution.

The Information Revolution has advanced to a new stage with the increasing sophistication of AI. AI has the potential to create a safer, more prosperous, and all-round better future by addressing social and environmental challenges, including climate change, the education gap, and economic inequality.

SBG accelerates the Information Revolution through the responsible use of AI. In this way we are helping to realize the world we have always envisioned since our founding.

SBG provides capital to companies around the world that show excellent potential for AI-driven growth, contributing to the Information Revolution and a more connected, empowered, and joyful world for all.

Such companies have innovative ideas for truly world-changing goods and services. These ideas can solve social issues and make people happier.

By providing them with capital, we accelerate their business growth and unleash the potential of our core philosophy and vision: Information Revolution—Happiness for everyone.

Our strategy is to build a strategically synergized ecosystem of companies.
The strategy envisages this group as a symbiotic ecosystem of companies with industry-shaping technologies and business models.

In this ecosystem, we work with visionary entrepreneurs who pioneer new industries. Although we help these business leaders in their decision-making, we respect their autonomy and do not find it necessary to hold a majority stake in their companies. However, we do encourage them to identify with our core philosophy and vision and to work with us in unlocking synergistic growth.

Under this strategy, we have developed an ecosystem of entrepreneurial leaders in AI. These include subsidiaries and Group companies such as Arm, companies in which SBG invests directly with a view to creating value over the longer term, and over 400 portfolio companies within SoftBank Vision Funds and other funds.

When a company invests capital into business activities, the resulting value is expected to exceed the initial capital commitment. The company will then reinvest that capital for an even higher return. When this cycle occurs on an ever-greater scale, capital will keep accumulating, generating sustainable growth.

We have three key sources of capital: an ecosystem of portfolio companies, financial capital, and human capital.
This capital is both an input and an output. In implementing our business model, we “input” capital, and this capital is then “output” back to us in an amount larger than the initial input.

Our story begins in 1981, when Masayoshi Son founded SOFTBANK Japan. He envisioned the company as a “software bank” that would build infrastructure for the information-driven society. At the time, PC software led the Information Revolution, but the focus shifted to the Internet, then to broadband, and later to smartphones. We have always stood on the frontlines of such shifts. Adjusting swiftly to market and industry changes, we have always partnered with the paradigm-defining companies of the time and redeployed capital into new investment areas.

The Information Revolution has now entered another new phase, with AI completely redefining every industry. We invest in AI businesses with world-changing ideas. The aim of these investments is to accelerate groundbreaking technological innovations that can build a more connected, empowered, and joyful world.
Believing that the next few decades of AI innovation will surpass all the technological progress of the last three centuries, we work with portfolio companies and subsidiaries around the world who share our aspiration to forge this exciting future.