In certain Japanese companies, the muttering ranks refer to the founder-president behind his back as kamisama: “god”. As the deity ages, according to that tradition, his divine status and infallibility rise. Even when he starts to make mistakes.

Not all founders deserve the title. But Masayoshi Son, the irrepressible founder of SoftBank and its totem through cycles of heart-stopping risk and fabulous reward, has been Japan’s archetypal kamisama for decades. He has led, inspired and been worshipped. Staff follow his pronouncements in atomic detail and execute them with bottomless zeal. And, to support his adherents’ faith, he has performed miracles: his $20m investment in Alibaba, now worth about $140bn, is among the greatest in tech history.

All this may help explain why Mr Son, as he admitted this week to the worst loss in SoftBank’s history and the collapse of some of his most cherished visions, compared himself to Jesus Christ. Like the son of God, he told astonished investors on a call, he was misunderstood. But time, he said, would show the real value of his investments.