Billionaires Altman and Son bet big on each other

Tech entrepreneur Sam Altman and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son lead talks over a record deal to make the Japanese investor the biggest backer of the ChatGPT-maker.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank boss Masayoshi Son joke around on stage at their event in Tokyo. Getty

David Keohane, George Hammond and Arash Massoudi

Feb 7, 2025 – 5.02pm

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When Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman first met each other in 2017 at SoftBank’s offices in Tokyo, the younger entrepreneur lacked a project large enough to tempt the tech billionaire to get his chequebook out.

Over the next two years, as Altman’s OpenAI evolved into one of the world’s most potent artificial intelligence companies, Son tried to invest close to $US1 billion ($1.6 billion) in the ChatGPT-maker.

Financial Times