With significant stakes in U.S. operator Sprint and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba — not to mention its own domestic empire in Japan — SoftBank is already one of the world’s most influential companies. On top of that, however, SoftBank is also making some of the largest investments in tech companies on the planet — making it a key player in the global tech space.
This year alone, the company put an eye-watering $1 billion into Korean e-commerce firm Coupang, it’s emerged as the world’s biggest rival to Uber following a series of investments in ride-hailing firms across Asia, and it owns one of the hottest gaming startups in the world, Supercell. Yet, the company is continuing to invest in top caliber tech startups across Asia and also in the U.S., and it has a new man heading its operations: former Google executive Nikesh Arora, SoftBank president and COO.
We’re delighted to reveal that Arora, who rose to senior vice president and chief business officer at Google during a 10-year stint with the company, will speak onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF, which takes place September 21-23. His position at SoftBank, as well as his previous experience, give Arora a truly global perspective on the most important trends that are shaping the technology industry today on a worldwide scale.
Arora isn’t the only stellar name taking the Disrupt stage. Other speakers include noted VC Aileen Lee, who coined the phrase “unicorn,” Y Combinator President Sam Altman and legendary venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
To hear all these excellent speakers and more at Disrupt SF 2015 — at San Francisco’s historic Pier 70 — you can purchase tickets (at special early bird prices) right here.
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