小澤 学 (Ozawa Manabu), Honda's executive operating officer and head of the Corporate Strategy Division, is expected to join SoftBank effective 1 October and take on key responsibilities including external negotiations as a global strategy fellow.
It was announced that 小澤 学 (Ozawa Manabu), Honda's executive operating officer and head of the Corporate Strategy Division, will become a fellow responsible for global strategy at SoftBank, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group, effective 1 October.
As SoftBank's global strategy fellow, 小澤 学 (Ozawa Manabu) is expected to handle strategy development and external negotiations, including the company's collaboration with OpenAI in the US.
At Honda, he oversaw overall management strategy as an executive operating officer and was reportedly responsible for launching Sony Honda Mobility, the business integration with Nissan Motor, and relations with the government and local authorities. Internally, he was known as the president's right-hand man.
SoftBank Group is said to have posted net income of more than ¥5 trillion for fiscal 2025 and has announced an outlook for reaching that milestone as a Japanese company. It is advancing plans to vertically integrate the AI supply chain through acquisitions of and investments in AI models, infrastructure and autonomous driving, among other areas.