President Masayoshi Son: Apple Inc.

Softbank Corp. Dept: The unlikely success story of Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son has taken another leap with his latest mega-deal, announced Monday, to take a 70 percent stake in U.S. mobile phone carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. for $20 billion, according to CTV. He studied in the U.S., graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, and boasts American friends in high places such as Microsoft's Bill Gates. He was also close to Apple Inc.'s late founder Steve Jobs. But his high-profile acknowledgement of his Korean roots may be what most sets Son apart in Japan, which has a history of discrimination against its Asian neighbor and tOKYO -- The Japanese billionaire behind a deal that will create the world's third-biggest mobile company spent his childhood in a slum, where he proudly rode in a stinking wheelbarrow filled with pig feed, pushed by his grandmother, a Korean immigrant. The biggest foreign acquisition in the history of Japan Inc. underlines Son's unusual status in a corporate culture that has long favored stability over risk-taking. Yet big deals are not the only reason Son has stood out. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.