#40 The Chronicler - Lionel Barber on Masa Son, SoftBank, the FT & Wirecard

Lionel Barber is the former editor of the Financial Timesand probably the only journalist on the planet to have interviewed Presidents Obama, Trump and Putin. Under his stewardship, the FT metamorphosed from a newspaper into a digital subscription business, and was sold to the Japanese company Nikkei for 44xearnings. And as editor, Barber fully backed up former guest Dan McCrum in his investigation of Wirecard.I was delighted when Lionel agreed to come on the show to talk about his new book, Gambling Man, a biography of Masa Son, founder of Softbank and creator of the $100bn Vision Fund. I have long been curious about Son, who for 3 days at the peak of the dot.com boom was the richest man in the world.Barber spent 3 years writing his meticulously researchedbook for which he interviewed 150 subjects, including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, as he explains in our discussion. Some of his stories, including his description of Son’s inner sanctum, are marvellous.If you enjoy this episode, head over to our Substack, (sign up button on take the monthly paid option and get exclusive additional content, including Steve's interview with Alok Sama, former CFO of Softbank International. Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives intohow real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios. You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips. For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our website . If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

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#40 The Chronicler - Lionel Barber on Masa Son, SoftBank, the FT & Wirecard is an episode from Behind the Balance Sheet by Stephen Clapham's Podcast on Value Investing | Stockmarket Analysis | Equities.

This episode is 00:56:20 long.

This episode was published on Oct 17, 2024.

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