Alibaba Has Already Made Masayoshi Son Japan's Richest Man

Even before Alibaba’s shares start trading, the man who runs its biggest shareholder is getting a boost from the Chinese company’s giant initial public offering—big enough to become his country’s richest man. No, not Alibaba’s lead founder and chief executive, Jack Ma, who is on track to be the richest person in China once shares start trading, because of his 8.8 percent stake in the company.

But the biggest Alibaba shareholder is SoftBank, the Japanese telecom and Internet company run by Masayoshi Son that owns about 34 percent of Alibaba. With all the excitement surrounding the IPO, SoftBank’s share price has jumped 14 percent since the beginning of September. As a result, Son is now the wealthiest person in Japan. The 57-year-old has a net worth of $16.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, putting him ahead of Tadashi Yanai, chairman of Fast Retailing, parent of Uniqlo.