If Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank Corp. needs a fresh strategy to fend off a surprise French counterbid for a prized U.S. telecommunications target, he could do worse than ask budding entrepreneurs at the SoftBank Academia.
There, some 300 or so aspiring leaders ¡ª split about evenly between company insiders and entrepreneurs from outside ¡ª brainstorm ideas and vie to catch Son¡¯s eye, with a chance he will offer them a job or invest in their company, or even choose them as his ¡°heir¡± to run Japan¡¯s second-most valuable listed company.
The idea incubator, set up by Son four years ago, meets once or twice a month in the 25th floor cafeteria of SoftBank¡¯s Tokyo headquarters.
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