Join us for an illuminating conversation with Lionel Barber, author of Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World’s Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son. Gambling Man is the first Western biography of the enigmatic founder of Softbank -- written with Son’s cooperation but not authorized by him. Barber’s character study of Son reveals a man of contradictions -- both a hero and a villain, a strategic visionary of the future and a gambling addict prone to placing bets on gut instincts, leading to billions in earnings but also billions in losses. To unpack one of the boldest investors in modern times, Barber would travel around the globe to interview many of the players in Son's story -- including five trips to Japan in a span of of a year. There he was granted the opportunity to interview Son four times, and Son’s father -- Mitsunori -- once the pachinko kingpin in Japan.
So who is Masayoshi Son? A genius or just lucky? Has he shaped the world of technology investments for better or worse? Most importantly, what is next for Son and Softbank? Joining Barber on stage is former hedge fund analyst and the New Yorker’s award-winning reporter Sheelah Kolhatkar. A “Masa” watcher herself, she is well versed on writing and interviewing some of today’s biggest names in business and tech: Sam Bankman-Fried and his parents, Vivek Ramaswamy, and in her New York Times bestseller Black Edge -- billionaire hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen.
The book Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World’s Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son will be available for purchase at the event.
Speakers
Lionel Barber is the former editor of the Financial Times. As editor, he interviewed many of the world’s leaders in business and politics, including U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has co-written several books and has lectured widely on foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and economics. He also served on the Board of Trustees at the Tate and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He graduated in 1978 from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, with a joint honors degree in German and modern history and speaks French and German fluently.
Sheelah Kolhatkar is an award-winning investigative reporter and feature writer for the New Yorker, where she covers business, politics, and technology. She has written the magazine's Financial Page column and hosted the public television program "Playing By The Rules," about ethics in the business world. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street, about the largest insider trading investigation in history and the transformation of Wall Street and the U.S. economy. Black Edge was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. Previously, she was a features editor and national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek, and a regular contributor to Bloomberg Television. Before becoming a journalist, she worked as an analyst at two hedge funds in New York City. She was recently named a 2025 New America Fellow, and she is working on a new book about how activist investing is reshaping American politics and the economy.
Gambling Man: Lionel Barber on Softbank’s Masayoshi Son
Host
Thu, Jan 30, 06:00 PM - 07:30 PM (EDT)
To be shared on approval (New York)
40 attendees
Join us for an illuminating conversation with Lionel Barber, author of Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World’s Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son. Gambling Man is the first Western biography of the enigmatic founder of Softbank -- written with Son’s cooperation but not authorized by him. Barber’s character study of Son reveals a man of contradictions -- both a hero and a villain, a strategic visionary of the future and a gambling addict prone to placing bets on gut instincts, leading to billions in earnings but also billions in losses. To unpack one of the boldest investors in modern times, Barber would travel around the globe to interview many of the players in Son's story -- including five trips to Japan in a span of of a year. There he was granted the opportunity to interview Son four times, and Son’s father -- Mitsunori -- once the pachinko kingpin in Japan.
So who is Masayoshi Son? A genius or just lucky? Has he shaped the world of technology investments for better or worse? Most importantly, what is next for Son and Softbank? Joining Barber on stage is former hedge fund analyst and the New Yorker’s award-winning reporter Sheelah Kolhatkar. A “Masa” watcher herself, she is well versed on writing and interviewing some of today’s biggest names in business and tech: Sam Bankman-Fried and his parents, Vivek Ramaswamy, and in her New York Times bestseller Black Edge -- billionaire hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen.
The book Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World’s Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son will be available for purchase at the event.
Speakers
Lionel Barber is the former editor of the Financial Times. As editor, he interviewed many of the world’s leaders in business and politics, including U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has co-written several books and has lectured widely on foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and economics. He also served on the Board of Trustees at the Tate and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He graduated in 1978 from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, with a joint honors degree in German and modern history and speaks French and German fluently.
Sheelah Kolhatkar is an award-winning investigative reporter and feature writer for the New Yorker, where she covers business, politics, and technology. She has written the magazine's Financial Page column and hosted the public television program "Playing By The Rules," about ethics in the business world. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street, about the largest insider trading investigation in history and the transformation of Wall Street and the U.S. economy. Black Edge was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. Previously, she was a features editor and national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek, and a regular contributor to Bloomberg Television. Before becoming a journalist, she worked as an analyst at two hedge funds in New York City. She was recently named a 2025 New America Fellow, and she is working on a new book about how activist investing is reshaping American politics and the economy.