SoftBank's Secret Project

If you've been a reader of The Information for several years now, you remember the wave of SoftBank Vision Fund investments that dominated our headlines. From WeWork to construction startup Katerra, the high-profile blow-ups were worthy of an Apple TV series!

After enduring stain after stain on its reputation, the Vision Fund went into hiding and SoftBank’s infamous leader Masayoshi Son focused his energy on ensuring that Arm, the chipmaker that SoftBank took private for $32 billion in 2016, had a successful initial public offering. 

Arm reached a $65 billion valuation on its first day of trading last month, the largest public market debut of the year. Now, Son says SoftBank is back in offense mode and he’s hungry to back artificial intelligence startups. In a story my colleague Cory and I published this week, we also found Son has a new investment thesis codenamed “Project R,” which sources described as an effort to take big stakes in warehouse automation, AI and robotics companies.