TOKYO -- Masayoshi Son has always liked to think he can "feel" when he is talking to a promising entrepreneur. For the Japanese technology investor, even a brief face-to-face encounter can be enough to convince him to invest billions in a startup.
Capturing that same magic over a video conference call is not so easy. But that is what Son is under pressure to do now that a series of asset sales has left SoftBank Group with only one dominant asset: Alibaba.
