One of Masayoshi Son's recent slideshows has been doing the rounds on the FediVerse this week. If you've seen people making odd comments about 'Goose was not valued.' or 'Goose value 71.' or 'eggs do not lay eggs' over the past few days then Son's 2026 presentation to shareholders is what they are going on about.
This is the context that a lot of us didn't have. Son has been doing this since 2010, the goose laying golden eggs going back to at least 2014, and the 2020 earnings report having a run of 23 slides of geese and eggs. Other weird things over the years have included dog telepathy and a representation of COVID-19 as flying unicorns jumping out of a ditch. As the Bloomberg people pointed out, this significantly came to the attention of the world outwith Japan, which largely boggled at some of the slideshows sans context, in 2019 and 2020. Part of the world is discovering this afresh in 2026.
Some of the criticism over the years has focussed not on the more oddball aspects of these slideshows, but on the stereotypical way in which the graphs with projections just suddenly make lines shoot upwards.
They were right that economics is a dismal science, but to me these days it's not only about the ugly Moloch-like consequences, but also because these utter wierdos are in charge of it, and the medium of economic domination is a PowerPoint of nonsensical AI slop.
Masayoshi Son for me has always been the best living example of survival bias. Got very lucky once, been taking terrible decisions ever since.
Zuckerberg is another great example.
And then spent 80 billion on the Metaverse, while actively making the world a worse place.
Masayoshi son has lost absolutely stupid amount of money on things like WeWork, which he deemed as revolutionary as "AGI", which he is still pushing as inevitable.
These are immensely stupid people, with a lot of capital and non-existen ability to self-reflect or care, both enormous advantages when you play a game that favors carelessness.
I mean, he was pretty vindicated on Uber. Which kind of hurts me to say, I was a long time Uber bear. But it did indeed emerge from the pandemic stronger.
I think in most countries the drivers get paid by the taxi license holders and usually can make more money and/or more have more flexible working conditions driving for Uber.
WTF do you mean by this? Even constitutions can be amended, and if an odious law cannot be changed through politics then that only means it will be changed by other means.
Quick Google suggests Uber is up 66% on its IPO price, but the S&P index is up 85% over the same time period. I think Softbank also sold out around 2022, so the return (vs IPO price) would have been even lower. Didn't check for stock splits etc but I don't think Uber was a home-run for Softbank at all.
Here's an example of his latest presentation slides: https://group.softbank/media/Project/sbg/sbg/pdf/ir/investor...
I can't speak to the numbers, but the values it espouses sound reasonable.
Preposterous. Clearly the goose is full of golden eggs
translation: goose has constipation
Slide number 55 is a beauty.
ASI as Alien Slop Intelligence is already here. The next phase is hardening the slop, I suppose.
Goose value 0?
One of Masayoshi Son's recent slideshows has been doing the rounds on the FediVerse this week. If you've seen people making odd comments about 'Goose was not valued.' or 'Goose value 71.' or 'eggs do not lay eggs' over the past few days then Son's 2026 presentation to shareholders is what they are going on about.
* https://discuss.systems/@dev/116807460725864716
This is the context that a lot of us didn't have. Son has been doing this since 2010, the goose laying golden eggs going back to at least 2014, and the 2020 earnings report having a run of 23 slides of geese and eggs. Other weird things over the years have included dog telepathy and a representation of COVID-19 as flying unicorns jumping out of a ditch. As the Bloomberg people pointed out, this significantly came to the attention of the world outwith Japan, which largely boggled at some of the slideshows sans context, in 2019 and 2020. Part of the world is discovering this afresh in 2026.
* https://vice.com/en/article/these-delusional-powerpoint-slid...
* https://trillium.substack.com/p/golden-geese-stirring-the-po...
* https://group.softbank/system/files/pdf/ir/presentations/202...
* https://group.softbank/media/Project/sbg/sbg/pdf/ir/presenta... (https://group.softbank/en/news/webcast/20100625_01_en)
Some of the criticism over the years has focussed not on the more oddball aspects of these slideshows, but on the stereotypical way in which the graphs with projections just suddenly make lines shoot upwards.
The baffling thing is how SoftBank still hasn't gone under.
They were right that economics is a dismal science, but to me these days it's not only about the ugly Moloch-like consequences, but also because these utter wierdos are in charge of it, and the medium of economic domination is a PowerPoint of nonsensical AI slop.
True but these particular powerpoints predate AI slop by far.
the one on top didn't work for me, this one did: https://archive.is/oe6NR
Masayoshi Son for me has always been the best living example of survival bias. Got very lucky once, been taking terrible decisions ever since. Zuckerberg is another great example.
This makes no sense. Masa has at least 2 extraordinary investments and Zuck bought Insta for 1 billion USD.
And then spent 80 billion on the Metaverse, while actively making the world a worse place. Masayoshi son has lost absolutely stupid amount of money on things like WeWork, which he deemed as revolutionary as "AGI", which he is still pushing as inevitable. These are immensely stupid people, with a lot of capital and non-existen ability to self-reflect or care, both enormous advantages when you play a game that favors carelessness.
(2020)
I mean, he was pretty vindicated on Uber. Which kind of hurts me to say, I was a long time Uber bear. But it did indeed emerge from the pandemic stronger.
yeah I was a uber bear too, some how it has turned around
I was betting on the taxi drivers revolting, but the capital markets have prevailed
In what country would taxi drivers revolt?
I think in most countries the drivers get paid by the taxi license holders and usually can make more money and/or more have more flexible working conditions driving for Uber.
See eg https://www.statista.com/chart/6971/fare-deal-taxi-drivers-e...
>I was betting on the taxi drivers revolting, but the capital markets have prevailed
Capital Markets found in favor of giant corporation Uber instead of giant corporation Cabcharge.
The old taxi union+licensing+bully hybrid system common in many parts of the world was far worse than the cruelest thing uber could do.
They also spent a ton of money to get an unchangeable law passed in their favor to bypass employment regulations.
> unchangeable law
WTF do you mean by this? Even constitutions can be amended, and if an odious law cannot be changed through politics then that only means it will be changed by other means.
Quick Google suggests Uber is up 66% on its IPO price, but the S&P index is up 85% over the same time period. I think Softbank also sold out around 2022, so the return (vs IPO price) would have been even lower. Didn't check for stock splits etc but I don't think Uber was a home-run for Softbank at all.