In 2000, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son invested $20 million in Alibaba, the Chinese online marketplace founded by Jack Ma. The company had little revenue, and investors had passed on Ma’s idea. Alibaba was also helped by a $1 billion investment from Yahoo in 2005. When it went public in 2014, its IPO raised $25 billion. SoftBank’s stake was worth tens of billions, making the bet one of tech investing’s standout deals.
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