SoftBank CEO seeks respect to go with record $18 billion profit

Masayoshi Son is now in the history books for delivering the largest-ever quarterly profit for a Japanese company, but he’s still having a hard time getting the respect he thinks he deserves.

SoftBank Group Corp. on Wednesday reported net income of 1.93 trillion yen ($17.7 billion) for the three months ended March 31, with essentially all of that coming from Son’s successful investment in the newly public Coupang Inc. That’s nearly twice the 1 trillion yen tally from the next highest Japanese company, Toshiba Corp.

Yet even as Son prepared to deliver the widely anticipated record results, his stock price suffered the steepest two-day dive in eight months. His shares have dropped 14% from their peak in March.