SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son reportedly blew $130 million in a bitcoin bet gone wrong after failing to heed Warren Buffett’s advice
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- SoftBank’s founder, Masayoshi Son, might have saved $130 million if he paid attention to Warren Buffett.
- The famed tech investor lost that amount on a bitcoin bet gone wrong, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
- Watch bitcoin trade live.
“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful,” said the legendary investor Warren Buffett in 2004. In other words, buy low and sell high — and don’t follow the herd.
If SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son had listened to Buffett’s advice, he might have saved $130 million on a bitcoin bet gone wrong. The technology investor lost that money by buying bitcoin near the height of the digital currency’s mania and selling after it crashed, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Son invested near the peak of bitcoin’s speculative craze, when the cryptocurrency traded as high as $20,000 a coin, according to The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, though the exact prices that Son bought and sold at are not known. Bitcoin is now trading near $5,500.
While the bitcoin bet was done with Son’s money and not SoftBank’s, the reported investment contrasts with his lofty reputation.