The Untold Story of Japan’s Boldest Billionaire with Lionel Barber

In this episode of The Coral Capital Podcast former Financial Times editor and author of Gambling Man, joins Tiffany Kayo and James Riney for a conversation about one of Japan’s most enigmatic figures: Masayoshi Son.

Barber shares what it was like sitting across from Masa, why his story is more than a business saga, and how SoftBank’s founder became a symbol of Japan’s global ambitions and contradictions.

We get into:

• The early years: Pachinko, pseudonyms, and SoftBank before Silicon Valley

• Behind-the-scenes stories of his deal with Donald Trump

• The $500B Stargate Project with Sam Altman and Larry Ellison of OpenAI

• Personal stories from Lionel’s interviews with Masa, his family, and the unlikely figures who shaped his journey—including Steve Jobs

Lionel’s book: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Gambling-Man-Wild-Japan’s-Masayoshi/dp/0241582725 

The Japanese edition of the book will be launched soon.

If you're working on something ambitious, we’d love to hear from you at Coral Capital!

Get in touch with us here: bit.ly/contactcoral

Connect with Lionel:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionel-barber-473826135/

X: https://x.com/lionelbarber

Connect with James:

X: https://x.com/james_riney

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesriney

Connect with Tiffany:

X: https://x.com/tiffanykayo

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanykayo/