5 ms·

It’s amazing how a reputation for lighting money on fire makes investors avoid you.

piva00 7y ago
Lest not forget that this isn't Masayoshi Son's first ride on ligthing money on fire, he still holds the record of most money lost in history from the dot-com bubble crash of the 2000s.
- onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
  Well, he was also the richest person in the world for 3 days in 2000. I'm as skeptical of the vision fund as anyone. But it's pretty impressive to go from nothing to the richest person in the world. Lose the most money in history (still being a multi-billionaire, though), and in the span of 20 years, 10x your fortune AGAIN -- to be again one of the richest people in the world. If anything, that's an impressive story -- at least to me.
  - rattray 7y ago
    Interesting, I hadn't known that. What's a good link to read about his story?
    - trillic 7y ago
      NPR's Planet Money did a decent piece on him earlier this month. https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=767379358 https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - chrismeller 7y ago
      Not to be a smartass, but... Wikipedia for a start? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masayoshi_Son https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masayoshi_Son
      - Voloskaya 7y ago
        Yes, a single sentence on the event is probably what he was asking for, thank you.
        chrismeller 7y ago
        There are whole sections about his specific history at each company and stage. If you’re looking for three sentence summary then I can’t help you.
  - tim333 7y ago
    He's an interesting guy. Here he talks about making his first million while a student at Berkley https://youtu.be/--dReMGY_WY?t=459 https://youtu.be/--dReMGY_WY?t=459 He's showing signs of making some of the losses back already: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bytedance-ipo-breakingviews/breakingviews-tiktok-calls-the-tune-for-softbanks-comeback-tour-idUSKBN1X905C https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bytedance-ipo-breakingvie... I wouldn't write him off just because he got a little conned on WeWork.
    - unlinked_dll 7y ago
      He's always showing signs of making money before losing more of it. Personally I think TikTok is a paper tiger and wouldn't throw a dime of my money near them.
      - Barrin92 7y ago
        it seems to be the first major Chinese player who makes inroads with global (and in particular American) audiences, something that other Chinese companies are notoriously bad at. And they really seem to be onto something when it comes to young users. I wouldn't brush them off.
        ls612 7y ago
        All they realized was that people wanted Vine, even if it wasn’t called Vine anymore. I still don’t know why Twitter shuttered them, it seems stupid in hindsight.
        unlinked_dll 7y ago
        I have massive distrust in companies headquartered in China. No company of TikTok's (purported) scale w.r.t revenue/valuation is going to be divorced from the influence if not ownership by the CCP. I would not invest in the Chinese government, and therefore would not invest in a large Chinese company since they are two sides of the same coin. Not only out of morality, but because I don't want to expose myself to financial risk by betting on a communist government/dictatorship not to fuck me.
- furyofantares 7y ago
  I believe this is a baloney quip. If you want to know how he fared in dotcom you should look at his worth before and after, not compare the peak of the funny money to the bottom of the crash.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

Lest not forget that this isn't Masayoshi Son's first ride on ligthing money on fire, he still holds the record of most money lost in history from the dot-com bubble crash of the 2000s.

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
Well, he was also the richest person in the world for 3 days in 2000. I'm as skeptical of the vision fund as anyone. But it's pretty impressive to go from nothing to the richest person in the world. Lose the most money in history (still being a multi-billionaire, though), and in the span of 20 years, 10x your fortune AGAIN -- to be again one of the richest people in the world. If anything, that's an impressive story -- at least to me.
- rattray 7y ago
  Interesting, I hadn't known that. What's a good link to read about his story?
  - trillic 7y ago
    NPR's Planet Money did a decent piece on him earlier this month. https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=767379358 https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - chrismeller 7y ago
    Not to be a smartass, but... Wikipedia for a start? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masayoshi_Son https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masayoshi_Son
    - Voloskaya 7y ago
      Yes, a single sentence on the event is probably what he was asking for, thank you.
      - chrismeller 7y ago
        There are whole sections about his specific history at each company and stage. If you’re looking for three sentence summary then I can’t help you.
- tim333 7y ago
  He's an interesting guy. Here he talks about making his first million while a student at Berkley https://youtu.be/--dReMGY_WY?t=459 https://youtu.be/--dReMGY_WY?t=459 He's showing signs of making some of the losses back already: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bytedance-ipo-breakingviews/breakingviews-tiktok-calls-the-tune-for-softbanks-comeback-tour-idUSKBN1X905C https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bytedance-ipo-breakingvie... I wouldn't write him off just because he got a little conned on WeWork.
  - unlinked_dll 7y ago
    He's always showing signs of making money before losing more of it. Personally I think TikTok is a paper tiger and wouldn't throw a dime of my money near them.
    - Barrin92 7y ago
      it seems to be the first major Chinese player who makes inroads with global (and in particular American) audiences, something that other Chinese companies are notoriously bad at. And they really seem to be onto something when it comes to young users. I wouldn't brush them off.
      - ls612 7y ago
        All they realized was that people wanted Vine, even if it wasn’t called Vine anymore. I still don’t know why Twitter shuttered them, it seems stupid in hindsight.
      - unlinked_dll 7y ago
        I have massive distrust in companies headquartered in China. No company of TikTok's (purported) scale w.r.t revenue/valuation is going to be divorced from the influence if not ownership by the CCP. I would not invest in the Chinese government, and therefore would not invest in a large Chinese company since they are two sides of the same coin. Not only out of morality, but because I don't want to expose myself to financial risk by betting on a communist government/dictatorship not to fuck me.
furyofantares 7y ago
I believe this is a baloney quip. If you want to know how he fared in dotcom you should look at his worth before and after, not compare the peak of the funny money to the bottom of the crash.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]