A biography for Masayoshi Sonhasn’t been written yet.
“Wisdom and knowledge are the most valuable things in the body.”
“In tennis, you strike a ball just after the rebound for the fastest return. It's the same with investment.”
“I want to be number one.”
“Think big; think disruptive. Execute with full passion.”
“It's easy to look at where your pieces are now and place the next one nearby.”
“Alibaba is Alibaba. We are going to keep on, you know, having Alibaba as our core company in our family.”
“I have no intention of making small bets.”
“I was richer than Bill Gates for 3 days.”
“Japan had an energy crisis. I thought, instead of just worrying about it, I should take some kind of responsibility to provide the solutions.”
“Of course Jack Ma was the guy who impressed me.”
“India has the best opportunity ahead of us.”
“When the founders retire, it's always difficult for the second generation and third generation.”
“If they had listened to me and had equal partnerships in China, the U.K., Germany and Brazil, maybe Yahoo in those countries could have become positioned like Yahoo Japan.”
“In Internet in general, there are security, privacy, and many other issues.”
“When those super intelligence goes into robots, those robots with the super intelligence will change our lives.”
“I am not trying to chase what other people are doing.”
“Renewables is part of social responsibility, but the information revolution is the only main thing I am interested in.”
“I try to look in the future and think backwards. That is when I am at my most comfortable. Because then I am just like the movie, 'Back to the Future.'”
“I think in terms of 20-year horizons.”
“Yahoo was Jerry Yang's baby. He did a great job creating the baby. Unfortunately, some of the key executives after the foundation of the company couldn't keep up with the technology innovation of the industry. They thought that Yahoo should become a media company.”