Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG), said Wednesday that he will continue as CEO at least till the age of 69, expressing his intention of staying in the post for the next 8 years.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo the same day, Son, 61, also said that he will remain as SBG's chair should he retire as CEO.
In 2014, Son had Nikesh Arora, a former Google executive, come on board as a candidate to be his successor. But later, he changed tack and decided to stay on as CEO. Arora stepped down from his post in 2016.
At the SBG's general meeting of shareholders held in June 2017, Son said, "I am not ready to retire." Son also said then that he would pick the next CEO for the group "over the next 10 years."
On Wednesday, Son also announced that SBG will allocate 600 billion yen for the repurchase of its own shares, and 700 billion yen each for debt repayment and investment into AI-related firms, from about 2 trillion yen gained through the listing of of shares of SoftBank Corp., the group's telecom subsidiary.
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