Masayoshi Son and Greg Hayes built their careers through very different kinds of corporate transformation.
Son founded SoftBank and expanded it into a global technology investment group. Hayes rose through United Technologies and led the changes that created RTX, a major aerospace and defense company.
There is no publicly documented business partnership between Son and Hayes in the company records reviewed for this article. Their names make sense together as a comparison of leadership careers, not as the story of a shared venture.
Who is Masayoshi Son?
Masayoshi Son founded the company that became SoftBank Group in 1981. He remains its chairman and CEO. What began as a software distribution business grew into a group with interests in telecommunications, technology companies, semiconductor design and investment funds. SoftBank’s account of its founding and expansion traces that shift across several decades.
Son’s career is closely associated with placing large bets on technologies he believes will shape future markets. SoftBank’s purchase of Arm is a clear example. The group completed its acquisition of the chip design company in September 2016. Arm’s technology gave SoftBank a significant position in the wider computing industry, even though Arm designs chip architecture rather than manufacturing chips itself.
SoftBank later expanded its technology investment activity through the Vision Funds. Son has also made artificial intelligence a central theme of the group’s strategy. His 2026 message to shareholders sets out that direction in his own account of the company’s priorities. Those priorities are strategic goals; they should not be treated as guaranteed commercial outcomes.
Who is Greg Hayes?
Greg Hayes is a former CEO and chairman of United Technologies and RTX. His career followed an executive path within a large industrial company, where leadership meant managing established businesses, major transactions and the operational demands of aerospace and defense.
Hayes became CEO of United Technologies in 2014. During his tenure, the company completed the Rockwell Collins acquisition and moved to separate its Carrier and Otis businesses. United Technologies’ announcement of the planned separation identified Hayes as the executive overseeing that transition. The restructuring helped set the stage for the combination of United Technologies’ remaining aerospace businesses with Raytheon.
Hayes subsequently led RTX as chairman and CEO. Christopher Calio succeeded him as CEO in May 2024, while Hayes continued as executive chairman for a period. RTX later announced the board chair succession and said Hayes would step down from the board before its 2025 annual meeting. Describing Hayes as RTX’s current CEO would therefore be inaccurate.
Masayoshi Son and Greg Hayes: How Their Careers Compare
Son is a founder and investor. He created SoftBank, remained closely identified with its direction and used acquisitions and investments to move the group into new markets. His career raises questions about timing, conviction and the financial risk involved in pursuing a long-term technology thesis.
Hayes is a corporate executive and restructuring leader. His most prominent work involved reshaping an established industrial company through acquisitions, separations and a merger. His career illustrates the demands of executing transactions while continuing to run businesses with customers, production programs and long development cycles.
Both men worked on decisions with consequences far beyond a single product. The distinction lies in what each was building: Son expanded an investment-led technology group, while Hayes helped reorganize aerospace and industrial businesses into a new corporate structure.
Their Major Business Ventures
For Son, the ventures most relevant to his public profile are SoftBank itself, its telecommunications business, its technology investment funds and its ownership of Arm. These are connected to his leadership, but they are not all companies he personally founded. That distinction matters when assessing an executive’s role in a business.
For Hayes, the relevant businesses are United Technologies and RTX, along with the transactions he oversaw as their leader. Carrier and Otis became independent companies through the United Technologies separation. He played a leading executive role in that process; calling those companies his personal startups would misrepresent it.
The business models also create different risks. A technology investment group depends heavily on the performance and valuation of its holdings. An aerospace and defense manufacturer must also meet demanding requirements for engineering, production, service and long-term customer programs. Neither record can be judged fairly by a single deal or a single year’s results.
Are Masayoshi Son and Greg Hayes Connected?
Available company biographies and transaction announcements establish separate career histories, not a joint company or a documented partnership between the two men. A shared appearance in a search query does not establish a personal, family or commercial relationship.
The useful connection is analytical: both executives have shaped large businesses through consequential decisions, but they have done so from different starting points. Son’s record centers on founding and investing. Hayes’s centers on managing and restructuring established corporations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Masayoshi Son and Greg Hayes work together?
The public company records reviewed for this article do not establish that they worked together or jointly led a business.
What company did Masayoshi Son found?
Son founded the company that became SoftBank Group in 1981. He continues to serve as its chairman and CEO.
What is Greg Hayes known for?
Hayes is known for leading United Technologies and RTX, including the period in which United Technologies separated Carrier and Otis and combined its remaining aerospace businesses with Raytheon.
Is Greg Hayes still the CEO of RTX?
No. Christopher Calio succeeded Hayes as RTX CEO in May 2024.
