Masayoshi Son's wealth increases by $18 billion in nine days

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son has seen his net worth increase by more than $18 billion in just nine days. According to real-time Forbes data, Son's wealth reached $80.6 billion as of Friday, June 11, representing a nearly 30% increase since late August.

This surge is driven by significant gains in SoftBank's stock, which has risen 24% in the past month and 48% since the start of the year. Investor confidence has been bolstered by OpenAI's launch of its GPT-6 Astra model, following SoftBank's $30 billion investment in the company earlier this year. Total capital SoftBank has directed toward OpenAI is expected to exceed $64 billion by the end of October.

Additionally, SoftBank is benefiting from the performance of Arm Holdings, the British chip designer. Arm's stock has climbed 128% since the beginning of the year, fueled by the ongoing artificial intelligence investment wave. These gains have propelled the 69-year-old billionaire to 27th place on the global wealth rankings, up from 36th in March.