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That's really not accurate if you read more about him and his story. He made a ton of money early on by designing some electronic game system. He also made a lo
by eigenvalue 7y ago
That's really not accurate if you read more about him and his story. He made a ton of money early on by designing some electronic game system. He also made a lot on Yahoo Japan. And he saw the opportunity of the iPhone when no other big business in Japan did, and immediately moved to capture and leverage that opportunity in a massive way. But I am the first to admit that his recent picks in the Vision Fund are highly questionable. I doubt he would have been as reckless if it were his own (or Softbank's) money that he was investing and not Saudi royal money.
- mikemotherwell 7y ago> not Saudi royal money That's the missing piece of all this. The Saudis may legitimately be in the market for turning $15B into $10B, and being happy. Oil is under a LOT of pressure, and while it won't go away anytime soon, the Saudis need to put their money somewhere. They likely already have a diversified portfolio of other stocks, they have after all made billions for almost a half century, and risking a smallish percentage of their wealth (there's a terrifying thought) is likely a smart move, even if they lose big, by anyone else's standards. As a political strategy it is also probably sane. Vision Fund is likely good for the Saudi's reputation, as investment in innovation over, say, real estate in London or SF is less politically charged. The Saudi's likely get a lot of this investment.