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Wikipedia

SoftBank Group

January 30, 2023

SoftBank Group Corp. (ソフトバンクグループ株式会社, SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki-gaisha)[3] is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management.[4] The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund, with over $100 billion in capital. Fund investors include sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.[5][6][7]

SoftBank Group Corp.
Tokyo Shiodome Building, SoftBank's former global headquarters in Tokyo
Native name
ソフトバンクグループ株式会社
SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki gaisha
TypePublic KK
ISINJP3436100006
IndustryConglomerate
Founded3 September 1981; 41 years ago (1981-09-03)
FounderMasayoshi Son
HeadquartersTokyo PortCity Takeshiba,
Minato-ku, Tokyo
,
Japan
Key people
Masayoshi Son
(Chairman and CEO)
Products
Revenue US$56.832 billion (2020)[1]
US$−12.539 billion (2020)[1]
US$−7.357 billion (2020)[1]
Total assets US$342.34 billion (2020)[1]
Total equity US$67.747 billion (2020)[1]
Owner
Number of employees
 80,909 (2020)[1]
Subsidiaries
Websitegroup.softbank

The company is known for the leadership of its controversial[8][9][10][11] founder and largest shareholder Masayoshi Son.[12] It operates in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, information technology, finance, media and marketing, and other areas. SoftBank Corporation, its spun-out affiliate and former flagship business, is the third-largest wireless carrier in Japan, with 45.621 million subscribers as of March 2021.[13]

SoftBank was ranked in the 2017 Forbes Global 2000 list as the 36th largest public company in the world[14] and the second-largest publicly traded company in Japan after Toyota.[15]

The logo of SoftBank is based on the flag of the Kaientai, a naval trading company founded in 1865, near the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, by Sakamoto Ryōma.[16]

Although SoftBank does not affiliate itself to any traditional keiretsu, it has close ties with Mizuho Financial Group, its primary lender.[17]

History

Founding and early years

SoftBank was founded in September 1981 as a SOFTBANK Corp by then-24-year-old Masayoshi Son, initially as a software distributor. The company entered the publishing business in May 1982 with the launches of the Oh! PC and Oh! MZ magazines, about NEC and Sharp computers respectively.[18] Oh!PC had a circulation of 140,000 copies by 1989.[19] It would go on to become Japan's largest publisher of computer and technology magazines and trade shows.

In 1994, the company went public, valued at $3 billion.[19] In September 1995, SoftBank agreed to purchase US-based Ziff Davis publishing for $2.1 billion.[20]

1995–2009 expansion

In the 1990s, Son made large investments in internet services and the so-called new economy in general. SoftBank bought COMDEX from The Interface Group on 1 April 1995 for $800 million and ZDI on 29 February 1996.[21][22] SoftBank sold COMDEX to Key3Media, a spin-off of Ziff Davis, in 2001.[23] In 1996, SoftBank formed a joint venture with American internet company Yahoo!, creating Yahoo! Japan, which would become a dominant site in the country.[24]

In another highly publicized investment, SoftBank bought 80% of memory manufacturers Kingston Technology in 1996. When the owners-founders (John Tu and David Sun) announced plans to distribute $100,000,000 of the $1.5B windfall to Kingston employees, it created a very high profile media stir that lasted well thru the 1996 Christmas season; it was on all US networks, as well as international media. A few years later, in 1999, after the market for memory softened substantially, SoftBank sold the company back at a loss to the original owners for about a third of the original price.[25]

In October 1999, SoftBank became a holding company.[26] In 2000, SoftBank made its most successful investment – $20 million to a then-fledgling Chinese Internet venture called Alibaba.[27] This investment turned into $60 billion when Alibaba went public in September 2014.[28][29]

In February 2000, SoftBank Ventures Asia was founded under the leadership of Masayoshi Son to focus on investment in Korean-based Internet companies.[30]

 
SoftBank store in Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan

On 28 January 2005, SoftBank became the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball team. On 17 March 2006, SoftBank announced its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japan's $78 billion mobile markets. In April 2006, SoftBank purchased a 23% stake in Betfair, an Internet betting exchange. In August 2006, SoftBank sold all its shares of SBI Group to a subsidiary of SBI's holding company, making SBI independent. On 1 October 2006, Vodafone Japan changed its corporate name and service brand name to "SoftBank Mobile" and "SoftBank" respectively.[31]

On 28 January 2008, it was announced that SoftBank and Tiffany & Co. collaborated in making a limited 10 model-only phone. This phone contains more than 400 platinum diamonds, totaling more than 20 carats. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen.[32]

2010–2016 acquisitions

On 3 February 2010, SoftBank acquired 13.7% in Ustream.[33] On 1 October 2010, Ayumi Hamasaki became the commercial spokesperson.[34]

On 3 October 2012, the takeover of competitor eAccess was announced.[35] On 1 July 2013, SoftBank announced that Willcom was a wholly-owned subsidiary, after the termination of rehabilitation proceedings. eAccess was merged with Willcom, which resulted in a new subsidiary and brand from Yahoo! Japan, Ymobile Corporation.[36]

On 15 October 2012, SoftBank announced plans to take control of American Sprint Nextel by purchasing a 70% stake for $20 billion.[37] On 6 July 2013, the United States Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank's acquisition for $22.2 billion for a 78% ownership interest in Sprint.[38] On 6 August 2013, SoftBank bought 2% more shares of Sprint Corporation, increasing its ownership stake to 80%.

 
SoftBank store in Sendai, with decorations for the Tanabata

In October 2013, SoftBank acquired a 51% stake in Supercell for a reported $2.1 billion. Later on 25 October 2014, they invested $210 million in OlaCabs,[39] $627 million in Snapdeal with a 30% stake in the company on 28 October 2014, and a $100 million investment in Housing.com for a 30% stake in November 2014.[40]

In 2013, the company bought a controlling stake in French company Aldebaran Robotics, which was rebranded SoftBank Robotics. In 2014, teams from both companies co-designed Pepper, a humanoid robot. In 2015, SoftBank increased its stake to 95%.[41][42]

In 2015, SoftBank acquired DramaFever.[43] In May 2015, Masayoshi Son said he would appoint Nikesh Arora, a former Google executive, as Representative Director and President of SoftBank. Arora had been heading SoftBank's investment arm.[44] On 1 June 2015, SoftBank acquired an additional 22.7% stake in Supercell, increasing its total stake to 73.2% and becoming the sole external shareholder of the company.[45] In June 2015, SoftBank announced it would invest US$1 billion in the Korean e-commerce website Coupang as part of its overseas expansion plans.[46]

In July 2015, SoftBank announced the renaming of the company from SoftBank Corp to SoftBank Group Corp. Meanwhile, SoftBank Mobile was renamed to SoftBank Corp, the now-former name of the company as a whole.[47] On 16 February 2016, SoftBank announced they would repurchase a record 14.2% of shares, valued at $4.4bn, to boost investor confidence.[48] On 31 March 2016, they announced they would sell shares worth $7.9 billion of their stake in Alibaba Group. On 21 June 2016, SoftBank sold its 84% stake in Supercell for a reported US$7.3 billion to Tencent.[49] On 3 June 2016, Softbank agreed to sell most of its stake in GungHo Online Entertainment (approximately 23.47%) for about $685 million, ending Softbank's majority ownership.[50][51][52] The offer was completed by 22 June.[53][54]

In June 2016, Nikesh Arora stepped down amidst pressure from investors. Board member Ron Fisher and Baer Capital Partners founder Alok Sama undertook Arora's overseas investment duties.[55] One month later,[56] Son announced the company's largest deal ever to buy British chip designer ARM Holdings for more than US$32 billion.[57][58] This acquisition was completed on 5 September 2016.[59]

On 6 December 2016, after meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump, chief executive Masayoshi Son announced SoftBank would be investing US$50 billion in the United States toward businesses creating 50,000 new jobs.[60][61][62]

2017–2018

On 30 January 2017, the Wall Street Journal wrote that SoftBank Group was "weighing an investment of well over $1 billion in shared-office space company WeWork, in what could be among the first deals from its new $100 billion technology fund."[63] On 20 March, SoftBank bought a $300m stake in WeWork.[64] On 14 February 2017, SoftBank Group agreed to buy Fortress Investment Group LLC for $3.3 billion.[56] In February 2017, it was announced that Social Finance Inc. was close to raising $500 million from an investor group led by Silver Lake, including Softbank.[65] On 28 March 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that SoftBank Group Corporation had approached Didi Chuxing Technology Co. about investing $6 billion to help the ride-hailing firm expand in self-driving car technologies, with the bulk of the money to come from SoftBank's planned $100 billion Vision Fund.[66]

On 18 May 2017, it was reported that Softbank had completed its single largest investment in India to date, investing $1.4 billion in Paytm. At the time, Softbank was also working on a takeover of Flipkart's Snapdeal.[67] On 10 August 2017, Softbank invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart.[68]

On 27 May 2017, Softbank and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), the kingdom's main sovereign wealth fund, partnered to create the Softbank Vision Fund, the world's largest private equity fund with a capital of $93 billion.[69] Softbank Group contributed $28 billion to the investment fund, of which $8.2 billion came from the sale of approximately 25% of British multinational Arm Holdings shares.[70] Saudi Arabia is the principal investor in the fund, its Public Investment Fund (PIF) agreed to inject $45 billion into the Vision Fund over 5 years, becoming its largest investor.[71] Other investors include Apple, Qualcomm, ARM, Foxconn, Sharp, Larry Ellison and Mubadala.[72] The latter agreed to invest $15 billion dollars in the fund, targeting artificial intelligence, communications infrastructure, financial technology, consumer internet, mobile computing and robotics.[73] Through Softbank Vision Fund, CEO Masayoshi Son explained his intent to invest in all companies developing technologies emphasizing global artificial intelligence, including sectors such as finance or transportation.[74] In July 2019, SoftBank announced creating of a "Vision Fund 2", excluding participation from the Saudi Arabia government and including investors Apple, Foxconn, Microsoft and others. The fund is reported to focus on AI-based technology and invest approximately $108 billion, including $38 billion of its own funds.[75] In February 2020, however, a report from Wall Street Journal stated the fund would only up with less than half of that capital.[76]

On 8 June 2017, Alphabet Inc. announced the sale of Boston Dynamics (robotics companies whose products include BigDog) to SoftBank Group for an undisclosed sum.[77] On 25 August 2017, SoftBank finalized a $4.4 billion investment in WeWork.[78] On 24 October 2017, Son announced the group would collaborate with Saudi Arabia to develop Neom, the new high-tech business and industrial city of the Saudi Kingdom.[79] On 14 November 2017, Softbank agreed to invest $10 billion into Uber.[80] On 29 December 2017, it was reported that a SoftBank-led consortium had invested $9 billion into Uber. The deal, to close in January 2018, would leave SoftBank as Uber's biggest shareholder, with a 15 percent stake.[81] The deal was secured after Uber shareholders voted to "sell their shares to the Japanese conglomerate at a discounted price." Beyond SoftBank, consortium members included Dragoneer, Tencent, TPG and Sequoia.[82]

On 14 January 2018, Softbank's Vision Fund announced to invest $560 million in the German used-car sales portal Auto1.[83] On 1 March 2018, Softbank's Vision Fund led a $535 million investment in DoorDash.[84] In May 2018, CEO Masayoshi Son revealed during an earnings presentation that Walmart had reached a deal to buy Flipkart.[85] On 27 September 2018, Softbank announced the investment of $400 Million in Home-Selling Startup Opendoor.[86]

In September 2018, Saudi government officials announced that a planned $200 billion project with SoftBank Group to build the world's biggest solar-power-generation project would be put on hold.[87] In November 2018, SoftBank announced it would make an IPO with the cost of share of $13.22 (which is 1,500 yen). The offer of the shares was going to last for a month. Regarding the number of shares, the total value of SoftBank will reach $21.15 billion, which would be the second-largest IPO ever made.[88]

In December 2018, SoftBank invested in ParkJockey. The startup attempts to monetize parking lots. After the investment round, general valuation of the ParkJourney reached $1 billion.[89]

In December 2018, SoftBank announced its intention to invest $1 billion on ride-hailing startup Grab. Some sources said that the total amount of investment could reach $1.5 billion.[90]

2019–2021

On 25 September 2019, Softbank Robotics launched Whiz in Singapore.[91]

In September 2019, WeWork's IPO was canceled.[92]

In December 2019, Softbank sold its interest in dog-walking startup Wag at a loss.[93] Tadashi Yanai, Fast Retailing's CEO and Japan's richest man at the time, left the board after 18 years.[94]

In January 2020, multiple Softbank-funded startups started cutting their staff, including Getaround, Oyo, Rappi, Katerra and Zume.[95] In February 2020, Elliott Management, an activist hedge fund, bought a $2.5 billion stake in Softbank and pushed for restructuring and more transparency, especially regarding its Vision Fund.[96] Consequently, plans for a second Vision Fund were pushed back.[97]

In November 2019, it was announced that Line Corp. and Z Holdings were going to be a new subsidiary under Naver Corporation and SoftBank Group, their respective owners.[98] The closing was delayed until March 2021 due to COVID-19.[99]

In March 2020, SoftBank announced that it was launching an emergency ¥4.5tn ($41bn) asset sale to fund a share buyback and debt reduction. The effort was initiated by Son in order to stem a collapse in the company’s share price due to the pandemic, "This programme will be the largest share buyback and will result in the largest increase in cash balance in the history of SBG [SoftBank Group], reflecting the firm and unwavering confidence we have in our business.". After the programme was unveiled, Softbank share price rose almost 19%. The program included a plan to repurchase ¥2tn of its shares in addition to the ¥500bn buyback it promised 10 days prior. Combined, SoftBank would be repurchasing 45% of its stock.[100]

On 1 April 2020, Sprint completed its merger with T-Mobile US, which was majority-owned by Deutsche Telekom, leaving T-Mobile the parent company. The merger also led to Softbank holding 24% of the new T-Mobile's shares, while 43% of shares are held by Deutsche Telekom. The remaining 33% will be held by others. In May 2020, Alibaba's co-founder and former CEO Jack Ma resigned from the board.[101]

In July 2020, SoftBank announced that it is considering to sell or IPO British chip designer Arm Holdings, which has been in a feud with the Chinese over control of its local subsidiary, but it did not have the majority ownership due to a decision made by Softbank to sell off the stake to the local partner.[102][103] For Q2 of 2020, the company revenues were $12 billion. The firm announced that it would be arranging a new fund worth $555 million. The fund will be used to invest in various companies, including Amazon, Apple and Facebook.[104]

In September 2020, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $100 million Series C round in Biofourmis.[105] Also in September 2020, Softbank was identified as the Nasdaq whale where it bought stock options valued in the billions, betting on higher prices for the biggest technology companies.[106][107][108][109] That month SoftBank sold Brightstar Corporation to Brightstar Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.[110][111]

American chip designing company Nvidia announced plans on 13 September 2020 to acquire ARM from SoftBank, pending regulatory approval, for a value of US $40 billion in stock and cash, became the largest semiconductor acquisition to date. SoftBank Group is to retain a 10% share in the company while ARM maintains its headquarters in Cambridge.[112][113][114]

In December 2020, Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80% stake of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for approximately $880 million. SoftBank retains about 20% through an affiliate.[115]

In January 2021, SoftBank sold $2 billion in Uber Technologies shares through affiliate firm SB Cayman.[116]

In March 2021, SoftBank made a record $36.99 billion profit from its Vision Fund unit and investment gains via the public market debut of Coupang.[117] SoftBank Group's net profit was $45.88 billion (¥4.99 trillion).[117] It was the largest recorded annual profit by a Japanese company in history.[117] The same month, Softbank's Vision Fund 2 announced investment in the eToro SPAC merger PIPE funding of $650 million.[118]

In April 2021 Softbank announced plans to acquire a 40% stake in AutoStore for $2.8 billion and in July 2021 it announced it would invest $870 million in the Korean hotel booking platform Yanolja.[119]

In May 2021, Softbank stated it would sell SB Energy India, to Adani Green Energy, valuing the unit at $3.5 billion. The sale is speculated to mark a shift in the company's trajectory, moving away from investments in solar energy towards companies dealing with artificial intelligence.[120][121][122] Later that month, Bloomberg reported, Vision Fund could go public via a $300 million SPAC in 2021, listing in Amsterdam.[123]

In July 2021, Softbank announced that it would acquire the Yahoo Japan brand from Verizon for $1.6 billion.[124][125]

In August 2021, Son said he would begin to make personal investments alongside Softbank Group's Vision Fund 2.[126]

In September 2021, Softbank agreed to sell most of its shares in T-Mobile US to Deutsche Telekom in exchange for a 4.5% stake in the latter.[127]

In August 2022, Softbank said that it sold its entire Uber holdings in April–July 2022.[128] It was also reported that Softbank exited Opendoor in that quarter.[129]

Institutional ownership

As of 30 September 2020, SoftBank ownership is as follows:[130][131]

Business units

SoftBank's corporate profile includes various other companies such as Japanese broadband company SoftBank BB, data center company IDC Frontier, gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment, and the publishing company SB Creative. SBI Group is a Japanese financial services company that began in 1999 as a branch of SoftBank.[132] Ymobile Corporation is another telecommunications subsidiary of SoftBank, established in 2014. In 2010, SoftBank founded Wireless City Planning (WCP), a subsidiary that planned the development of TD-LTE networks throughout Japan.[133] SoftBank also operates SoftBank Capital, a US-based venture capital company. SoftBank owns the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks professional baseball team. SoftBank also operates in the eco-power industry through its SB Energy subsidiary.

It has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo! (which has resulted in Yahoo! Japan), E-Trade, Ustream.tv, EF Education First and Morningstar. It also has stakes in Alibaba Group and Sprint Corporation.[64]

Other holdings include Softbank Corp. [ja], Softbank Vision Fund [ja], Arm Holdings, Fortress Investment Group, Boston Dynamics, T-Mobile US (3.3%), Alibaba (29.5%), Yahoo Japan (48.17%), Brightstar (87.1%), Uber (15%), Didi Chuxing (c. 20%), Ola (c. 30%), Renren (42.9%), InMobi (45%), Hike (25.8%), Snapdeal (c. 30%), Fanatics (c. 22%), Improbable Worlds (c. 50%), Paytm (c. 20%), OYO (42%), Ping An Insurance (7.41%),[134] Slack Technologies (c. 5%), WeWork (c. 80%), ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance (5%), Compass (c. 22%), AUTO1 Group (c. 20%), Wag (45%), Katerra (c. 28%), Cruise Automation (c. 19.6%), ParkJockey,[135] Tokopedia (Indonesia),[136] and many more companies.

SoftBank Corp.

SoftBank Corp. (ソフトバンク株式会社, SofutoBanku Kabushikigaisha) is SoftBank's telecommunications subsidiary, providing both mobile and fixed-line services. It was called SoftBank Mobile until July 2015, when the Group merged SoftBank BB Corp., SoftBank Telecom Corp. and Ymobile Corporation to reflect its fixed-line and ISP operations.[137]

J-PHONE

 
Sony TH291 cellular phone for the Digital Tu-Ka operator
 
J-PHONE store in Nagoya in 2003

SoftBank's mobile communications arm began with the formation of Japan Telecom in 1984. The Digital Phone Group (デジタルホン, DPG, three local companies) mobile phone division was formed in 1994, and J-PHONE Co., Ltd. (J-フォン) was formed in 1999 by the DGP/ Digital TU-KA Group merger (DTG, six local companies, not to be confused with TU-KA). Japan Telecom owned a stake of 45.1%.

J-PHONE grew steadily for a decade by introducing new services and enhancements such as SkyWalker for PDC, SkyMelody ringtone download, the Sha-Mail picture mail introduced following camera phones developed by SHARP, the mobile multimedia data service J-Sky modeled after NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, and advanced Java services based on JSCL, modeled after NTT DoCoMo's DoJa based i-appli.

Vodafone

In October 2001, the British mobile phone group Vodafone increased its share to 66.7% of Japan Telecom and 69.7% of J-Phone. On 1 October 2003, the company's name and the service brand changed to Vodafone, while the division was called Vodafone K.K. or Vodafone Japan.[138]

However, in January 2005, Vodafone Japan lost 58,700 customers and in February 2005 lost 53,200 customers, while competitors NTT DoCoMo gained 184,400 customers, while Au by KDDI gained 163,700, and Willcom gained 35,000. While as of February 2005, DoCoMo's FOMA 3G service had attracted 10 million subscribers and KDDI's 3G service had attracted over 17 million subscribers, Vodafone's 3G service only attracted 527,300 subscribers. Vodafone 3G failed to attract subscribers because Vodafone reduced investments in 3G services in Japan in 2002/3; handsets did not fully match the needs and preferences of Japanese customers. At the end of February 2005, Vodafone Japan had 15.1 million customers. By the end of October 2005, the number of subscribers had fallen below 15M. During the same period, NTT DoCoMo gained 1.65 million customers, and KDDI/AU gained 1.82 million customers. Vodafone-Japan had only 4.8% of Japan's 3G market.

Vodafone changed the name of its multimedia data services from J-Sky to Vodafone live! and used J-Sky's principles, technologies, and business models to introduce the WAP-based Vodafone live! in Vodafone's other markets. At the end of February 2005, Vodafone live! had 12.907 million subscribers in Japan. By the end of October 2005, the number of Vodafone live! subscribers had fallen by 138,000.

In March 2006, Vodafone began discussing the sale of the Vodafone Japan unit to SoftBank. Vodafone was unable to satisfy customers. Handsets had user interfaces that differed too much from the Japanese interface and lacked competitive features.

SoftBank Mobile

 
Television broadcast on a 2007 Sharp phone on SoftBank

On 17 March 2006, Vodafone Group announced it had agreed to sell Vodafone Japan to SoftBank for about US$15.1 billion. On 18 May 2006, the unit was renamed "SoftBank Mobile Corp.", effective 1 October 2006.

On 4 June 2008, SoftBank Mobile announced a partnership with Apple and brought the iPhone (3G) to Japan later in 2008.[139] SoftBank Mobile was the only official carrier of the iPhone in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S in 2011, when au by KDDI began to offer it.[140]

Technology

SoftBank Corp.'s mobile network operates W-CDMA (UMTS 3G) network ("SoftBank 3G"). SoftBank's 3G network is compatible with UMTS and supports transparent global roaming for UMTS subscribers from other countries.

Timeline

 
Vodafone store in Ikebukuro, Tokyo
 
A SoftBank mobile cell tower in Nakatsugawa, Gifu
  • 1981: SoftBank Corp. (currently SoftBank Group Corp.) Japan (Yombancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) established. Commenced operations as a distributor of packaged software
  • 1984: Japan Telecom was founded.
  • 1986: Japan Telecom launches leased circuit services.
  • 1986: Railway Telecommunication established.
  • 1989: Railway Telecommunication merges with Japan Telecom.
  • 1991: Tokyo Digital Phone established.
  • 1994: J-Phone starts PDC cellular service in the 1.5 GHz band, 10 MHz bandwidth.
  • 1997: J-Phone launches SkyWalker SMS service designed by Aldiscon and Ericsson for PDC
  • 1998: J-Phone launches SkyMelody ringtone download service
  • 1999: J-Phone launches J-Sky wireless Internet service ten months after NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, which was launched in February 1999.
  • 2000: J-Phone launches Sha-Mail (写メール) picture messaging service using the world's first camera phones developed by SHARP
  • 2001: J-Phone launches Java service with JSCL library
  • 2002: J-Phone launches W-CDMA 3G service for the first time
  • 2002: Company name was changed to Japan Telecom Holdings. The fixed-line telecommunications business was also separated to found a new Japan Telecom.
  • 2003: J-Phone company name is changed to Vodafone K.K., and J-Sky name is changed to Vodafone live!. Vodafone launches a Japan-nationwide Beckham campaign
  • 2003: Company name was changed to Vodafone Holdings K.K.
  • 2004: Vodafone K.K. merges with Vodafone Holdings K.K. and the company name is changed to Vodafone K.K.
  • 2004: Vodafone relaunches the 3G services in Japan a second time offering mobile phone handsets designed primarily for the European markets
  • 2005: Vodafone changes management and relaunches 3G services in Japan a third time
  • 2006: Vodafone officially announced it had agreed to sell Vodafone Japan (Vodafone K.K.) to SoftBank for a total of 1.75 trillion Japanese yen (approx US$15.1 billion) in one of the largest M&A transactions in Japan to date
  • 2006: SoftBank and Vodafone K.K. jointly announced, that the name of the company will be changed to a "new, easy-to-understand and familiar" company name and brand. Masayoshi Son became CEO and Representative Director of Vodafone K.K.
  • 2006: Headquarters moved from Atago Hills to Shiodome to integrate operations with other SoftBank group companies.
  • 2006: SoftBank announced that the name of the company will be changed to "SoftBank Mobile Corp." effective 1 October 2006
  • 2006: SoftBank started rebranding "Vodafone" to "SoftBank."
  • 2006: Vodafone Japan company name is changed to "SoftBank Mobile Corp."
  • 2008: SoftBank Mobile releases iPhone in Japan beating NTT DoCoMo
  • 2008: SoftBank Mobile joins Open Handset Alliance[141]
  • 2010: Softbank purchased 100% of the PHS mobile operator Willcom.
  • 2012: SoftBank Mobile unveils the Pantone 5 107SH, a mobile phone with a built-in geiger counter.[142]
  • 2015: Investment in US-based Social Finance, Inc (SoFi) announced
  • 2015: SoftBank Mobile was merged with SoftBank BB Corp., SoftBank Telecom Corp., and Ymobile Corporation to form a new subsidiary, SoftBank Corp., to reflect its new status of providing fixed-line and ISP operations.[137]
  • 2018: SoftBank Corp. (TSE: 9434) listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange On 19 December 2018.

Gallery

  •  

    SoftBank 821SH PG

  •  

    SoftBank 001P by Lumix

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    SoftBank A202F by ARROWS

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    SoftBank 930CA by EXLIM

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    SoftBank 003SH

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    Vodafone 803T by Toshiba

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    J-PHONE J-SH07 by Sharp (2001)

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    An evolution of J-PHONE and Vodafone cell phones, 1997–2004

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    A SoftBank USIM card

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    View of Taitō, Tokyo, with a large Vodafone sign in the background (2004)

  •  

    Mobile Blazer (2008)

Marketing

Since May 2006, SoftBank's telecommunications marketing and commercials have principally revolved around "Otosan sujan karki", the canine patriarch of the otherwise human "Shirason, Kaito" family.[143] "Otosan" translates to father, and the character, a Hokkaido dog, indeed acts as the father of the family, along with the son "Kojiro" (starred by Dante Carver), mom "Masako" (Kanako Higuchi), and daughter "Aya" (Aya Ueto).[144] The advertising series proved to be popular: CM Research Center ranked the Otousan adverts as the most popular in Japan between 2007 and 2012, based on monthly surveys of 3,000 randomly selected adults.[145][146]

SoftBank partnered with the Ingress augmented reality game, supporting the branded "SoftBank Ultra Link" in-game item.[147]

Sponsorship

SoftBank bought a "team" for the America's Cup. The team was named SoftBank Team Japan, and Yanmar came on board. SoftBank Team Japan raced in the 2017 races held in Bermuda. The team members come from various backgrounds, most of whom were not Japanese.[148]

The company was the official jersey sponsor of the Japanese national basketball team at the official 2017 Asian Basketball Championship in Lebanon[149] as well as the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

SoftBank has also owned the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, since 2005. The SoftBank logo appears on the jersey, and the team has won seven Japan Series championships under SoftBank, all of which came between 2011 and 2020.

Baby bonus

In 2015, SoftBank, along with some other companies in Japan,[150] offered a baby bonus for employees who have children. The payments range from US$400 for a first child to US$40,000 for a fifth child.[151][152][153]

Vision fund investments

Main article: SoftBank Vision Fund

SoftBank Investment Advisers oversees SoftBank's Vision Fund which invests in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and the internet of things.[154] It intends to develop a portfolio 125 AI companies.[155] It also invests in companies to revolutionize real estate, transportation, and retail. Son makes personal connections with the CEOs of all companies funded by Vision Fund.[156] Son plans to raise $100 billion for a new fund every few years, investing about $50 billion a year in startups.[157]

SoftBank Ventures Asia

SoftBank Ventures Asia (SBVA) is the global early-stage venture capital arm of the SoftBank Group[158] The firm focuses on early-stage ICT investments – including Artificial Intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and smart robotics.[159] By October 2021, SBVA has backed more than 250 companies in 10 countries with US$1.3 billion fund under management.[160]

SoftBank Ventures Asia (SBVA) was founded in 2000 as SoftBank Ventures Korea[159] and began its focus on South Korean market[159] and its early-stage ventures.[158] SBVA’s one of the early investments in South Korea includes Nexon Co, now a Korean-Japanese gaming publisher that was the largest IPO in Japan for 2011.[158]

SoftBank Ventures Asia (SBVA) expanded its focus beyond South Korea since 2011 and made several notable investments in Southeast Asia,[161] such as Tokopedia,[162] an Indonesian e-commerce platform, and Carro, Singapore's used-car platform.[163] In 2018, SBVA launched a $300m venture fund ‘China Venture Fund I’,[159] targeting Chinese start-ups,[164] then immediately trailed by ‘SoftBank Acceleration Fund’ with $300M the following year.[158] With continuous investment across Asia and beyond, the company renamed itself as SoftBank Ventures Asia to reflect its broadened focus on startups in the Asia-Pacific region beyond South Korea, and opened offices in Seoul,[165] Singapore, and Beijing.

With the company’s extended expertise in ICT investment, SBVA is aiming towards two investment themes, which are ‘technology innovation’ in AI,[159] Robotics, Semiconductor, Mobility, and AR/VR, and ‘market innovation’ in consumer, enterprise, shared economy, healthcare, etc.[160] SBVA created $160M ‘future innovation fund’ in March 2021, focusing on AI start-ups[166] and made investment in AI sector including VoyagerX, AI software developer,[167] Upstage AI, AI solution provider,[167] and MarqVision, AI-powered intellectual property (IP) protection platform.[168]

See also

References

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Additional sources

  • (PDF), JP: SoftBank, 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2009.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to SoftBank.
  • Official website (SoftBank Group)
  • Official website (SoftBank)

January 30, 2023
softbank, group, corp, ソフトバンクグループ株式会社, sofutobanku, gurūpu, kabushiki, gaisha, japanese, multinational, conglomerate, holding, company, headquartered, minato, tokyo, which, focuses, investment, management, group, primarily, invests, companies, operating, techn. SoftBank Group Corp ソフトバンクグループ株式会社 SofutoBanku Gurupu Kabushiki gaisha 3 is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato Tokyo which focuses on investment management 4 The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology energy and financial sectors It also runs the Vision Fund the world s largest technology focused venture capital fund with over 100 billion in capital Fund investors include sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East 5 6 7 SoftBank Group Corp Tokyo Shiodome Building SoftBank s former global headquarters in TokyoNative nameソフトバンクグループ株式会社Romanized nameSofutoBanku Gurupu Kabushiki gaishaTypePublic KKTraded asTYO 9984 TOPIX Core30 component Nikkei 225 componentISINJP3436100006IndustryConglomerateFounded3 September 1981 41 years ago 1981 09 03 FounderMasayoshi SonHeadquartersTokyo PortCity Takeshiba Minato ku Tokyo JapanKey peopleMasayoshi Son Chairman and CEO ProductsInvestmentInternetInternet of ThingsArtificial IntelligenceRoboticsE commerceRevenueUS 56 832 billion 2020 1 Operating incomeUS 12 539 billion 2020 1 Net incomeUS 7 357 billion 2020 1 Total assetsUS 342 34 billion 2020 1 Total equityUS 67 747 billion 2020 1 OwnerMasayoshi Son 34 2 2 Master Trust Bank 10 45 Japan Trustee 5 87 Number of employees80 909 2020 1 SubsidiariesSoftBank Corp 40 SoftBank Investment AdvisersSB CreativeAlibaba Group 24 9 WeWorkZ Holdings 32 65 Coupang 37 Fortress Investment GroupAldebaran Robotics 95 SoftBank C amp SSoftBank Payment Service Corp Fukuoka SoftBank HawksWebsitegroup wbr softbankThe company is known for the leadership of its controversial 8 9 10 11 founder and largest shareholder Masayoshi Son 12 It operates in broadband fixed line telecommunications e commerce information technology finance media and marketing and other areas SoftBank Corporation its spun out affiliate and former flagship business is the third largest wireless carrier in Japan with 45 621 million subscribers as of March 2021 13 SoftBank was ranked in the 2017 Forbes Global 2000 list as the 36th largest public company in the world 14 and the second largest publicly traded company in Japan after Toyota 15 The logo of SoftBank is based on the flag of the Kaientai a naval trading company founded in 1865 near the end of the Tokugawa shogunate by Sakamoto Ryōma 16 Although SoftBank does not affiliate itself to any traditional keiretsu it has close ties with Mizuho Financial Group its primary lender 17 Contents 1 History 1 1 Founding and early years 1 2 1995 2009 expansion 1 3 2010 2016 acquisitions 1 4 2017 2018 1 5 2019 2021 2 Institutional ownership 3 Business units 3 1 SoftBank Corp 3 2 J PHONE 3 3 Vodafone 3 4 SoftBank Mobile 3 5 Technology 3 6 Timeline 3 7 Gallery 4 Marketing 4 1 Sponsorship 5 Baby bonus 6 Vision fund investments 7 SoftBank Ventures Asia 8 See also 9 References 10 Additional sources 11 External linksHistory EditFounding and early years Edit SoftBank was founded in September 1981 as a SOFTBANK Corp by then 24 year old Masayoshi Son initially as a software distributor The company entered the publishing business in May 1982 with the launches of the Oh PC and Oh MZ magazines about NEC and Sharp computers respectively 18 Oh PC had a circulation of 140 000 copies by 1989 19 It would go on to become Japan s largest publisher of computer and technology magazines and trade shows In 1994 the company went public valued at 3 billion 19 In September 1995 SoftBank agreed to purchase US based Ziff Davis publishing for 2 1 billion 20 1995 2009 expansion Edit In the 1990s Son made large investments in internet services and the so called new economy in general SoftBank bought COMDEX from The Interface Group on 1 April 1995 for 800 million and ZDI on 29 February 1996 21 22 SoftBank sold COMDEX to Key3Media a spin off of Ziff Davis in 2001 23 In 1996 SoftBank formed a joint venture with American internet company Yahoo creating Yahoo Japan which would become a dominant site in the country 24 In another highly publicized investment SoftBank bought 80 of memory manufacturers Kingston Technology in 1996 When the owners founders John Tu and David Sun announced plans to distribute 100 000 000 of the 1 5B windfall to Kingston employees it created a very high profile media stir that lasted well thru the 1996 Christmas season it was on all US networks as well as international media A few years later in 1999 after the market for memory softened substantially SoftBank sold the company back at a loss to the original owners for about a third of the original price 25 In October 1999 SoftBank became a holding company 26 In 2000 SoftBank made its most successful investment 20 million to a then fledgling Chinese Internet venture called Alibaba 27 This investment turned into 60 billion when Alibaba went public in September 2014 28 29 In February 2000 SoftBank Ventures Asia was founded under the leadership of Masayoshi Son to focus on investment in Korean based Internet companies 30 SoftBank store in Ibaraki Osaka Japan On 28 January 2005 SoftBank became the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks a Nippon Professional Baseball team On 17 March 2006 SoftBank announced its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan giving it a stake in Japan s 78 billion mobile markets In April 2006 SoftBank purchased a 23 stake in Betfair an Internet betting exchange In August 2006 SoftBank sold all its shares of SBI Group to a subsidiary of SBI s holding company making SBI independent On 1 October 2006 Vodafone Japan changed its corporate name and service brand name to SoftBank Mobile and SoftBank respectively 31 On 28 January 2008 it was announced that SoftBank and Tiffany amp Co collaborated in making a limited 10 model only phone This phone contains more than 400 platinum diamonds totaling more than 20 carats The cost is said to be more than 100 000 000 yen 32 2010 2016 acquisitions Edit On 3 February 2010 SoftBank acquired 13 7 in Ustream 33 On 1 October 2010 Ayumi Hamasaki became the commercial spokesperson 34 On 3 October 2012 the takeover of competitor eAccess was announced 35 On 1 July 2013 SoftBank announced that Willcom was a wholly owned subsidiary after the termination of rehabilitation proceedings eAccess was merged with Willcom which resulted in a new subsidiary and brand from Yahoo Japan Ymobile Corporation 36 On 15 October 2012 SoftBank announced plans to take control of American Sprint Nextel by purchasing a 70 stake for 20 billion 37 On 6 July 2013 the United States Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank s acquisition for 22 2 billion for a 78 ownership interest in Sprint 38 On 6 August 2013 SoftBank bought 2 more shares of Sprint Corporation increasing its ownership stake to 80 SoftBank store in Sendai with decorations for the Tanabata In October 2013 SoftBank acquired a 51 stake in Supercell for a reported 2 1 billion Later on 25 October 2014 they invested 210 million in OlaCabs 39 627 million in Snapdeal with a 30 stake in the company on 28 October 2014 and a 100 million investment in Housing com for a 30 stake in November 2014 40 In 2013 the company bought a controlling stake in French company Aldebaran Robotics which was rebranded SoftBank Robotics In 2014 teams from both companies co designed Pepper a humanoid robot In 2015 SoftBank increased its stake to 95 41 42 In 2015 SoftBank acquired DramaFever 43 In May 2015 Masayoshi Son said he would appoint Nikesh Arora a former Google executive as Representative Director and President of SoftBank Arora had been heading SoftBank s investment arm 44 On 1 June 2015 SoftBank acquired an additional 22 7 stake in Supercell increasing its total stake to 73 2 and becoming the sole external shareholder of the company 45 In June 2015 SoftBank announced it would invest US 1 billion in the Korean e commerce website Coupang as part of its overseas expansion plans 46 In July 2015 SoftBank announced the renaming of the company from SoftBank Corp to SoftBank Group Corp Meanwhile SoftBank Mobile was renamed to SoftBank Corp the now former name of the company as a whole 47 On 16 February 2016 SoftBank announced they would repurchase a record 14 2 of shares valued at 4 4bn to boost investor confidence 48 On 31 March 2016 they announced they would sell shares worth 7 9 billion of their stake in Alibaba Group On 21 June 2016 SoftBank sold its 84 stake in Supercell for a reported US 7 3 billion to Tencent 49 On 3 June 2016 Softbank agreed to sell most of its stake in GungHo Online Entertainment approximately 23 47 for about 685 million ending Softbank s majority ownership 50 51 52 The offer was completed by 22 June 53 54 In June 2016 Nikesh Arora stepped down amidst pressure from investors Board member Ron Fisher and Baer Capital Partners founder Alok Sama undertook Arora s overseas investment duties 55 One month later 56 Son announced the company s largest deal ever to buy British chip designer ARM Holdings for more than US 32 billion 57 58 This acquisition was completed on 5 September 2016 59 On 6 December 2016 after meeting with US President elect Donald Trump chief executive Masayoshi Son announced SoftBank would be investing US 50 billion in the United States toward businesses creating 50 000 new jobs 60 61 62 2017 2018 Edit On 30 January 2017 the Wall Street Journal wrote that SoftBank Group was weighing an investment of well over 1 billion in shared office space company WeWork in what could be among the first deals from its new 100 billion technology fund 63 On 20 March SoftBank bought a 300m stake in WeWork 64 On 14 February 2017 SoftBank Group agreed to buy Fortress Investment Group LLC for 3 3 billion 56 In February 2017 it was announced that Social Finance Inc was close to raising 500 million from an investor group led by Silver Lake including Softbank 65 On 28 March 2017 the Wall Street Journal reported that SoftBank Group Corporation had approached Didi Chuxing Technology Co about investing 6 billion to help the ride hailing firm expand in self driving car technologies with the bulk of the money to come from SoftBank s planned 100 billion Vision Fund 66 On 18 May 2017 it was reported that Softbank had completed its single largest investment in India to date investing 1 4 billion in Paytm At the time Softbank was also working on a takeover of Flipkart s Snapdeal 67 On 10 August 2017 Softbank invested 2 5 billion in Flipkart 68 On 27 May 2017 Softbank and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia PIF the kingdom s main sovereign wealth fund partnered to create the Softbank Vision Fund the world s largest private equity fund with a capital of 93 billion 69 Softbank Group contributed 28 billion to the investment fund of which 8 2 billion came from the sale of approximately 25 of British multinational Arm Holdings shares 70 Saudi Arabia is the principal investor in the fund its Public Investment Fund PIF agreed to inject 45 billion into the Vision Fund over 5 years becoming its largest investor 71 Other investors include Apple Qualcomm ARM Foxconn Sharp Larry Ellison and Mubadala 72 The latter agreed to invest 15 billion dollars in the fund targeting artificial intelligence communications infrastructure financial technology consumer internet mobile computing and robotics 73 Through Softbank Vision Fund CEO Masayoshi Son explained his intent to invest in all companies developing technologies emphasizing global artificial intelligence including sectors such as finance or transportation 74 In July 2019 SoftBank announced creating of a Vision Fund 2 excluding participation from the Saudi Arabia government and including investors Apple Foxconn Microsoft and others The fund is reported to focus on AI based technology and invest approximately 108 billion including 38 billion of its own funds 75 In February 2020 however a report from Wall Street Journal stated the fund would only up with less than half of that capital 76 On 8 June 2017 Alphabet Inc announced the sale of Boston Dynamics robotics companies whose products include BigDog to SoftBank Group for an undisclosed sum 77 On 25 August 2017 SoftBank finalized a 4 4 billion investment in WeWork 78 On 24 October 2017 Son announced the group would collaborate with Saudi Arabia to develop Neom the new high tech business and industrial city of the Saudi Kingdom 79 On 14 November 2017 Softbank agreed to invest 10 billion into Uber 80 On 29 December 2017 it was reported that a SoftBank led consortium had invested 9 billion into Uber The deal to close in January 2018 would leave SoftBank as Uber s biggest shareholder with a 15 percent stake 81 The deal was secured after Uber shareholders voted to sell their shares to the Japanese conglomerate at a discounted price Beyond SoftBank consortium members included Dragoneer Tencent TPG and Sequoia 82 On 14 January 2018 Softbank s Vision Fund announced to invest 560 million in the German used car sales portal Auto1 83 On 1 March 2018 Softbank s Vision Fund led a 535 million investment in DoorDash 84 In May 2018 CEO Masayoshi Son revealed during an earnings presentation that Walmart had reached a deal to buy Flipkart 85 On 27 September 2018 Softbank announced the investment of 400 Million in Home Selling Startup Opendoor 86 In September 2018 Saudi government officials announced that a planned 200 billion project with SoftBank Group to build the world s biggest solar power generation project would be put on hold 87 In November 2018 SoftBank announced it would make an IPO with the cost of share of 13 22 which is 1 500 yen The offer of the shares was going to last for a month Regarding the number of shares the total value of SoftBank will reach 21 15 billion which would be the second largest IPO ever made 88 In December 2018 SoftBank invested in ParkJockey The startup attempts to monetize parking lots After the investment round general valuation of the ParkJourney reached 1 billion 89 In December 2018 SoftBank announced its intention to invest 1 billion on ride hailing startup Grab Some sources said that the total amount of investment could reach 1 5 billion 90 2019 2021 Edit On 25 September 2019 Softbank Robotics launched Whiz in Singapore 91 In September 2019 WeWork s IPO was canceled 92 In December 2019 Softbank sold its interest in dog walking startup Wag at a loss 93 Tadashi Yanai Fast Retailing s CEO and Japan s richest man at the time left the board after 18 years 94 In January 2020 multiple Softbank funded startups started cutting their staff including Getaround Oyo Rappi Katerra and Zume 95 In February 2020 Elliott Management an activist hedge fund bought a 2 5 billion stake in Softbank and pushed for restructuring and more transparency especially regarding its Vision Fund 96 Consequently plans for a second Vision Fund were pushed back 97 In November 2019 it was announced that Line Corp and Z Holdings were going to be a new subsidiary under Naver Corporation and SoftBank Group their respective owners 98 The closing was delayed until March 2021 due to COVID 19 99 In March 2020 SoftBank announced that it was launching an emergency 4 5tn 41bn asset sale to fund a share buyback and debt reduction The effort was initiated by Son in order to stem a collapse in the company s share price due to the pandemic This programme will be the largest share buyback and will result in the largest increase in cash balance in the history of SBG SoftBank Group reflecting the firm and unwavering confidence we have in our business After the programme was unveiled Softbank share price rose almost 19 The program included a plan to repurchase 2tn of its shares in addition to the 500bn buyback it promised 10 days prior Combined SoftBank would be repurchasing 45 of its stock 100 On 1 April 2020 Sprint completed its merger with T Mobile US which was majority owned by Deutsche Telekom leaving T Mobile the parent company The merger also led to Softbank holding 24 of the new T Mobile s shares while 43 of shares are held by Deutsche Telekom The remaining 33 will be held by others In May 2020 Alibaba s co founder and former CEO Jack Ma resigned from the board 101 In July 2020 SoftBank announced that it is considering to sell or IPO British chip designer Arm Holdings which has been in a feud with the Chinese over control of its local subsidiary but it did not have the majority ownership due to a decision made by Softbank to sell off the stake to the local partner 102 103 For Q2 of 2020 the company revenues were 12 billion The firm announced that it would be arranging a new fund worth 555 million The fund will be used to invest in various companies including Amazon Apple and Facebook 104 In September 2020 SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a 100 million Series C round in Biofourmis 105 Also in September 2020 Softbank was identified as the Nasdaq whale where it bought stock options valued in the billions betting on higher prices for the biggest technology companies 106 107 108 109 That month SoftBank sold Brightstar Corporation to Brightstar Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount 110 111 American chip designing company Nvidia announced plans on 13 September 2020 to acquire ARM from SoftBank pending regulatory approval for a value of US 40 billion in stock and cash became the largest semiconductor acquisition to date SoftBank Group is to retain a 10 share in the company while ARM maintains its headquarters in Cambridge 112 113 114 In December 2020 Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80 stake of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for approximately 880 million SoftBank retains about 20 through an affiliate 115 In January 2021 SoftBank sold 2 billion in Uber Technologies shares through affiliate firm SB Cayman 116 In March 2021 SoftBank made a record 36 99 billion profit from its Vision Fund unit and investment gains via the public market debut of Coupang 117 SoftBank Group s net profit was 45 88 billion 4 99 trillion 117 It was the largest recorded annual profit by a Japanese company in history 117 The same month Softbank s Vision Fund 2 announced investment in the eToro SPAC merger PIPE funding of 650 million 118 In April 2021 Softbank announced plans to acquire a 40 stake in AutoStore for 2 8 billion and in July 2021 it announced it would invest 870 million in the Korean hotel booking platform Yanolja 119 In May 2021 Softbank stated it would sell SB Energy India to Adani Green Energy valuing the unit at 3 5 billion The sale is speculated to mark a shift in the company s trajectory moving away from investments in solar energy towards companies dealing with artificial intelligence 120 121 122 Later that month Bloomberg reported Vision Fund could go public via a 300 million SPAC in 2021 listing in Amsterdam 123 In July 2021 Softbank announced that it would acquire the Yahoo Japan brand from Verizon for 1 6 billion 124 125 In August 2021 Son said he would begin to make personal investments alongside Softbank Group s Vision Fund 2 126 In September 2021 Softbank agreed to sell most of its shares in T Mobile US to Deutsche Telekom in exchange for a 4 5 stake in the latter 127 In August 2022 Softbank said that it sold its entire Uber holdings in April July 2022 128 It was also reported that Softbank exited Opendoor in that quarter 129 Institutional ownership EditAs of 30 September 2020 SoftBank ownership is as follows 130 131 Masayoshi Son 21 25 The Master Trust Bank of Japan investment trusts 10 25 Japan Trustee Services Bank main investment trusts 5 87 JPMorgan Chase 7 45 Citibank 1 4 The Vanguard Group 2 19 Capital Group Companies 2 4 Baillie Gifford 1 36 Business units EditThis section needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information September 2021 SoftBank s corporate profile includes various other companies such as Japanese broadband company SoftBank BB data center company IDC Frontier gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment and the publishing company SB Creative SBI Group is a Japanese financial services company that began in 1999 as a branch of SoftBank 132 Ymobile Corporation is another telecommunications subsidiary of SoftBank established in 2014 In 2010 SoftBank founded Wireless City Planning WCP a subsidiary that planned the development of TD LTE networks throughout Japan 133 SoftBank also operates SoftBank Capital a US based venture capital company SoftBank owns the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks professional baseball team SoftBank also operates in the eco power industry through its SB Energy subsidiary It has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo which has resulted in Yahoo Japan E Trade Ustream tv EF Education First and Morningstar It also has stakes in Alibaba Group and Sprint Corporation 64 Other holdings include Softbank Corp ja Softbank Vision Fund ja Arm Holdings Fortress Investment Group Boston Dynamics T Mobile US 3 3 Alibaba 29 5 Yahoo Japan 48 17 Brightstar 87 1 Uber 15 Didi Chuxing c 20 Ola c 30 Renren 42 9 InMobi 45 Hike 25 8 Snapdeal c 30 Fanatics c 22 Improbable Worlds c 50 Paytm c 20 OYO 42 Ping An Insurance 7 41 134 Slack Technologies c 5 WeWork c 80 ZhongAn Online P amp C Insurance 5 Compass c 22 AUTO1 Group c 20 Wag 45 Katerra c 28 Cruise Automation c 19 6 ParkJockey 135 Tokopedia Indonesia 136 and many more companies SoftBank Corp Edit SoftBank Corp ソフトバンク株式会社 SofutoBanku Kabushikigaisha is SoftBank s telecommunications subsidiary providing both mobile and fixed line services It was called SoftBank Mobile until July 2015 when the Group merged SoftBank BB Corp SoftBank Telecom Corp and Ymobile Corporation to reflect its fixed line and ISP operations 137 J PHONE Edit Sony TH291 cellular phone for the Digital Tu Ka operator J PHONE store in Nagoya in 2003 SoftBank s mobile communications arm began with the formation of Japan Telecom in 1984 The Digital Phone Group デジタルホン DPG three local companies mobile phone division was formed in 1994 and J PHONE Co Ltd J フォン was formed in 1999 by the DGP Digital TU KA Group merger DTG six local companies not to be confused with TU KA Japan Telecom owned a stake of 45 1 J PHONE grew steadily for a decade by introducing new services and enhancements such as SkyWalker for PDC SkyMelody ringtone download the Sha Mail picture mail introduced following camera phones developed by SHARP the mobile multimedia data service J Sky modeled after NTT DoCoMo s i mode and advanced Java services based on JSCL modeled after NTT DoCoMo s DoJa based i appli Vodafone Edit In October 2001 the British mobile phone group Vodafone increased its share to 66 7 of Japan Telecom and 69 7 of J Phone On 1 October 2003 the company s name and the service brand changed to Vodafone while the division was called Vodafone K K or Vodafone Japan 138 However in January 2005 Vodafone Japan lost 58 700 customers and in February 2005 lost 53 200 customers while competitors NTT DoCoMo gained 184 400 customers while Au by KDDI gained 163 700 and Willcom gained 35 000 While as of February 2005 DoCoMo s FOMA 3G service had attracted 10 million subscribers and KDDI s 3G service had attracted over 17 million subscribers Vodafone s 3G service only attracted 527 300 subscribers Vodafone 3G failed to attract subscribers because Vodafone reduced investments in 3G services in Japan in 2002 3 handsets did not fully match the needs and preferences of Japanese customers At the end of February 2005 Vodafone Japan had 15 1 million customers By the end of October 2005 the number of subscribers had fallen below 15M During the same period NTT DoCoMo gained 1 65 million customers and KDDI AU gained 1 82 million customers Vodafone Japan had only 4 8 of Japan s 3G market Vodafone changed the name of its multimedia data services from J Sky to Vodafone live and used J Sky s principles technologies and business models to introduce the WAP based Vodafone live in Vodafone s other markets At the end of February 2005 Vodafone live had 12 907 million subscribers in Japan By the end of October 2005 the number of Vodafone live subscribers had fallen by 138 000 In March 2006 Vodafone began discussing the sale of the Vodafone Japan unit to SoftBank Vodafone was unable to satisfy customers Handsets had user interfaces that differed too much from the Japanese interface and lacked competitive features SoftBank Mobile Edit Television broadcast on a 2007 Sharp phone on SoftBank On 17 March 2006 Vodafone Group announced it had agreed to sell Vodafone Japan to SoftBank for about US 15 1 billion On 18 May 2006 the unit was renamed SoftBank Mobile Corp effective 1 October 2006 On 4 June 2008 SoftBank Mobile announced a partnership with Apple and brought the iPhone 3G to Japan later in 2008 139 SoftBank Mobile was the only official carrier of the iPhone in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S in 2011 when au by KDDI began to offer it 140 Technology Edit SoftBank Corp s mobile network operates W CDMA UMTS 3G network SoftBank 3G SoftBank s 3G network is compatible with UMTS and supports transparent global roaming for UMTS subscribers from other countries Timeline Edit Vodafone store in Ikebukuro Tokyo A SoftBank mobile cell tower in Nakatsugawa Gifu 1981 SoftBank Corp currently SoftBank Group Corp Japan Yombancho Chiyoda ku Tokyo established Commenced operations as a distributor of packaged software 1984 Japan Telecom was founded 1986 Japan Telecom launches leased circuit services 1986 Railway Telecommunication established 1989 Railway Telecommunication merges with Japan Telecom 1991 Tokyo Digital Phone established 1994 J Phone starts PDC cellular service in the 1 5 GHz band 10 MHz bandwidth 1997 J Phone launches SkyWalker SMS service designed by Aldiscon and Ericsson for PDC 1998 J Phone launches SkyMelody ringtone download service 1999 J Phone launches J Sky wireless Internet service ten months after NTT DoCoMo s i mode which was launched in February 1999 2000 J Phone launches Sha Mail 写メール picture messaging service using the world s first camera phones developed by SHARP 2001 J Phone launches Java service with JSCL library 2002 J Phone launches W CDMA 3G service for the first time 2002 Company name was changed to Japan Telecom Holdings The fixed line telecommunications business was also separated to found a new Japan Telecom 2003 J Phone company name is changed to Vodafone K K and J Sky name is changed to Vodafone live Vodafone launches a Japan nationwide Beckham campaign 2003 Company name was changed to Vodafone Holdings K K 2004 Vodafone K K merges with Vodafone Holdings K K and the company name is changed to Vodafone K K 2004 Vodafone relaunches the 3G services in Japan a second time offering mobile phone handsets designed primarily for the European markets 2005 Vodafone changes management and relaunches 3G services in Japan a third time 2006 Vodafone officially announced it had agreed to sell Vodafone Japan Vodafone K K to SoftBank for a total of 1 75 trillion Japanese yen approx US 15 1 billion in one of the largest M amp A transactions in Japan to date 2006 SoftBank and Vodafone K K jointly announced that the name of the company will be changed to a new easy to understand and familiar company name and brand Masayoshi Son became CEO and Representative Director of Vodafone K K 2006 Headquarters moved from Atago Hills to Shiodome to integrate operations with other SoftBank group companies 2006 SoftBank announced that the name of the company will be changed to SoftBank Mobile Corp effective 1 October 2006 2006 SoftBank started rebranding Vodafone to SoftBank 2006 Vodafone Japan company name is changed to SoftBank Mobile Corp 2008 SoftBank Mobile releases iPhone in Japan beating NTT DoCoMo 2008 SoftBank Mobile joins Open Handset Alliance 141 2010 Softbank purchased 100 of the PHS mobile operator Willcom 2012 SoftBank Mobile unveils the Pantone 5 107SH a mobile phone with a built in geiger counter 142 2015 Investment in US based Social Finance Inc SoFi announced 2015 SoftBank Mobile was merged with SoftBank BB Corp SoftBank Telecom Corp and Ymobile Corporation to form a new subsidiary SoftBank Corp to reflect its new status of providing fixed line and ISP operations 137 2018 SoftBank Corp TSE 9434 listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange On 19 December 2018 Gallery Edit SoftBank 821SH PG SoftBank 001P by Lumix SoftBank A202F by ARROWS SoftBank 930CA by EXLIM SoftBank 003SH Vodafone 803T by Toshiba J PHONE J SH07 by Sharp 2001 An evolution of J PHONE and Vodafone cell phones 1997 2004 A SoftBank USIM card View of Taitō Tokyo with a large Vodafone sign in the background 2004 Mobile Blazer 2008 Marketing EditSince May 2006 SoftBank s telecommunications marketing and commercials have principally revolved around Otosan sujan karki the canine patriarch of the otherwise human Shirason Kaito family 143 Otosan translates to father and the character a Hokkaido dog indeed acts as the father of the family along with the son Kojiro starred by Dante Carver mom Masako Kanako Higuchi and daughter Aya Aya Ueto 144 The advertising series proved to be popular CM Research Center ranked the Otousan adverts as the most popular in Japan between 2007 and 2012 based on monthly surveys of 3 000 randomly selected adults 145 146 SoftBank partnered with the Ingress augmented reality game supporting the branded SoftBank Ultra Link in game item 147 Sponsorship Edit SoftBank bought a team for the America s Cup The team was named SoftBank Team Japan and Yanmar came on board SoftBank Team Japan raced in the 2017 races held in Bermuda The team members come from various backgrounds most of whom were not Japanese 148 The company was the official jersey sponsor of the Japanese national basketball team at the official 2017 Asian Basketball Championship in Lebanon 149 as well as the 2019 FIBA World Cup SoftBank has also owned the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka since 2005 The SoftBank logo appears on the jersey and the team has won seven Japan Series championships under SoftBank all of which came between 2011 and 2020 Baby bonus EditIn 2015 SoftBank along with some other companies in Japan 150 offered a baby bonus for employees who have children The payments range from US 400 for a first child to US 40 000 for a fifth child 151 152 153 Vision fund investments EditMain article SoftBank Vision Fund SoftBank Investment Advisers oversees SoftBank s Vision Fund which invests in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence robotics and the internet of things 154 It intends to develop a portfolio 125 AI companies 155 It also invests in companies to revolutionize real estate transportation and retail Son makes personal connections with the CEOs of all companies funded by Vision Fund 156 Son plans to raise 100 billion for a new fund every few years investing about 50 billion a year in startups 157 SoftBank Ventures Asia EditSoftBank Ventures Asia SBVA is the global early stage venture capital arm of the SoftBank Group 158 The firm focuses on early stage ICT investments including Artificial Intelligence AI the internet of things IoT and smart robotics 159 By October 2021 SBVA has backed more than 250 companies in 10 countries with US 1 3 billion fund under management 160 SoftBank Ventures Asia SBVA was founded in 2000 as SoftBank Ventures Korea 159 and began its focus on South Korean market 159 and its early stage ventures 158 SBVA s one of the early investments in South Korea includes Nexon Co now a Korean Japanese gaming publisher that was the largest IPO in Japan for 2011 158 SoftBank Ventures Asia SBVA expanded its focus beyond South Korea since 2011 and made several notable investments in Southeast Asia 161 such as Tokopedia 162 an Indonesian e commerce platform and Carro Singapore s used car platform 163 In 2018 SBVA launched a 300m venture fund China Venture Fund I 159 targeting Chinese start ups 164 then immediately trailed by SoftBank Acceleration Fund with 300M the following year 158 With continuous investment across Asia and beyond the company renamed itself as SoftBank Ventures Asia to reflect its broadened focus on startups in the Asia Pacific region beyond South Korea and opened offices in Seoul 165 Singapore and Beijing With the company s extended expertise in ICT investment SBVA is aiming towards two investment themes which are technology innovation in AI 159 Robotics Semiconductor Mobility and AR VR and market innovation in consumer enterprise shared economy healthcare etc 160 SBVA created 160M future innovation fund in March 2021 focusing on AI start ups 166 and made investment in AI sector including VoyagerX AI software developer 167 Upstage AI AI solution provider 167 and MarqVision AI powered intellectual property IP protection platform 168 See also Edit Companies portalList of conglomeratesReferences Edit a b c d e f ANNUAL REPORT 2020 PDF www softbank jp SoftBank Group Corp Retrieved 19 February 2021 SoftBank Group CEO Son s stake rises to more than a third Reuters 8 December 2022 Archived from the original on 8 December 2022 Changes of Corporate Names Softbank Group 15 July 2015 Retrieved 30 November 2015 SoftBank Gives Up Pretending It Isn t a Fund Bloomberg L P https www bloomberg com opinion articles 2020 08 11 softbank earnings it s a fund not a technology company Crane John 21 May 2019 Exposing SoftBank s Hunger for Saudi Blood Money The Startup Wong Jacky 9 May 2018 How Much Is the World s Largest Tech Fund Worth to SoftBank The Wall Street Journal SoftBank s Son defends Vision Fund at Saudi conference Nikkei Asia Retrieved 11 June 2021 First Bitcoin Now WeWork Is Masayoshi Son the Worst Investor Ever CCN com 26 September 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2022 Elstrom Peter 2 December 2019 SoftBank s startup bookkeeping draws scrutiny after WeWork fiasco The Japan Times Retrieved 11 October 2022 Masayoshi Son Inside the eccentric world of the controversial Japanese billionaire investor The Independent 15 January 2018 Retrieved 11 October 2022 Some suggested slides for SoftBank Financial Times 10 November 2022 Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 11 November 2022 Masayoshi Son s 58 Billion Payday on Alibaba Bloomberg com 8 May 2014 Retrieved 12 November 2017 Number of subscribers by Carriers TCA Tca or jp Forbes Global 2000 Forbes 2017 The World s Largest Public Companies Forbes Retrieved 26 September 2018 Origin of Brand Name and Logo SoftBank Group Corp Retrieved 26 September 2018 SoftBank in talks with Mizuho and Japan banks for 2 8bn loan Nikkei Asian Review Retrieved 23 November 2019 Webber Alan M 1 January 1992 Japanese Style Entrepreneurship An Interview with Softbank S CEO Masayoshi Son Harvard Business Review a b Japan s Big Three Carriers Explained SoftBank 27 October 2013 News Bloomberg Business 10 November 1995 Softbank Agrees to Buy Ziff Davis PC Magazine Group The New York Times a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a last has generic name help Andrew Pollack 19 February 1995 A Japanese Gambler Hits the Jackpot With Softbank The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 10 December 2017 Caulfield Brian 1 September 2003 Worst in Show How Key3Media the company behind the big tech trade show Comdex went bankrupt CNN Money Retrieved 10 December 2017 Business News Latest Headlines on CNN Business CNN CNN Mr Japan com How Son Captured Japan s Internet Economy money cnn com 16 August 1999 2 Founders to Buy Back Kingston Stake From Softbank Los Angeles Times 15 July 1999 Retrieved 11 September 2022 ソフトバンクグループの歩み ソフトバンクグループ株式会社 Sender Henny Ling Connie 18 January 2000 Softbank to Invest 20 Million In Hong Kong s Alibaba com The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 11 December 2017 Galani Una 22 September 2014 Valuing SoftBank in Alibaba s Aftermath DealBook Retrieved 20 October 2017 Pfanner Eric 19 September 2014 SoftBank s Alibaba Alchemy How to Turn 20 Million Into 50 Billion WSJ Retrieved 11 December 2017 Ji young Sohn 28 January 2019 Herald Interview Rebranded SoftBank Ventures Asia to form new fund for AI startups in Asia The Korea Herald Retrieved 25 August 2021 ボーダフォン メールのドメイン名も ソフトバンク へ 10月1日から in Japanese ITmedia Mobile 13 July 2006 Retrieved 2 July 2013 上戸彩 超高価ケータイ ないしょにしてね Sports Nippon in Japanese Archived from the original on 30 January 2008 Retrieved 29 January 2008 Softbank profit soars buys stake in Ustream Japan Today 3 February 2010 Head lines JP Yahoo dead link Santos Alexis 3 October 2012 Softbank to acquire competitor eAccess expand LTE network by 50 percent Engadget Retrieved 2 July 2013 Reuters Staff 19 May 2014 Yahoo Japan drops 3 2 billion plan to buy eAccess from SoftBank Reuters Retrieved 10 November 2020 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a last has generic name help Softbank to Buy 70 Percent Stake in Sprint Sources CNBC Retrieved 15 October 2012 Soni Phalguni 21 April 2014 The latest word in telecom Market Realist Market Realist Inc Retrieved 21 April 2014 Olacabs raises 210 million from Japan s SoftBank Corp enters b Club The Times Of India 25 October 2014 Startup Housing com valued at Rs 1 500 crore after SoftBank acquires 30 stake for 70 million The Times Of India 19 November 2014 Aldebaran Robotics Founder and CEO Steps Down SoftBank Appoints New Leader IEEE Spectrum Technology Engineering and Science News 23 February 2015 Olson Parmy Softbank s Robotics Business Prepares To Scale Up Forbes J T Quigley 22 May 2015 Post acquistion sic DramaFever has more muscle to spread Asian entertainment to the West Tech In Asia Retrieved 22 May 2015 Martin Alexander 11 May 2015 SoftBank CEO Taps a Future Successor in Nikesh Arora The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 11 May 2015 Japan s Softbank increases controlling stake in Finnish Clash of Clans maker Reuters June 2015 Retrieved 14 September 2020 Ando Ritsuko 3 June 2015 SoftBank to invest 1 billion in Korean e commerce site Coupang Reuters Retrieved 3 June 2015 Changes of Corporate Names of SoftBank Corp and Subsidiary Press Releases News About Us SoftBank Group Retrieved 7 December 2016 Softbank reveals record 4 4bn share buyback BBC News 16 February 2016 Retrieved 7 December 2016 Softbank sells stake in game developer Supercell to Tencent Yahoo News 21 June 2016 Retrieved 19 July 2016 Puzzle amp Dragons studio GungHo to regain majority stake from SoftBank for 685m develop online net 7 June 2016 SoftBank to sell most of its stake in Puzzle amp Dragons maker GungHo cnet com 6 June 2016 関連会社株式に係る公開買付けへの応募に関する契約の締結に関するお知らせ ソフトバンクグループ株式会社 Tender in Tender Offer for Shares of an Associate Press Releases News SoftBank Group Corp SoftBank Group softbank jp Results of Tender in Tender Offer for Shares of an Associate Press Releases News SoftBank Group Corp SoftBank Group softbank jp Martin Alexander 21 June 2016 SoftBank President Nikesh Arora to Step Down The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 21 June 2016 a b Hoffman Liz Jenny Strasburg Sarah Krouse 14 February 2017 SoftBank to Buy Fortress Investment Group for 3 3 Billion The Wall Street Journal Wong Jacky 18 July 2016 SoftBank ARM These Chips Don t Come Cheap The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 18 July 2016 Jack Simon 18 July 2016 ARM Holdings in 24bn Japanese takeover deal BBC News Retrieved 7 December 2016 Warren Tom 5 September 2016 SoftBank acquires ARM The Verge Retrieved 5 September 2016 Knutson Ryan 6 December 2016 When Billionaires Meet 50 Billion Pledge From SoftBank to Trump The Wall Street Journal Trump SoftBank to add 50B 50K jobs in U S usatoday com Amazon to add 100 000 full time jobs in U S by 19 USA Today B1 B2 13 January 2017 Farrell Maureen Winkler Rolfe Brown Eliot 31 January 2017 SoftBank Mulls Investment of Over 1 Billion in WeWork Wall Street Journal New York City retrieved 31 January 2017 a b Masayoshi Son goes on a 100bn shopping spree The Economist Retrieved 11 December 2017 Rudegeair Peter 16 February 2017 Silver Lake Softbank to Join New 500 Million Investment in Lender SoFi New York City The Wall Street Journal retrieved 17 February 2017 Wu Kane Negishi Mayumi 28 March 2017 SoftBank Considers 6 Billion Investment in China Ride Hailing Firm Didi Wall Street Journal New York Retrieved 30 March 2017 Mundy Simon 18 May 2017 India s Paytm wins 1 4bn Softbank investment Financial Times London Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 18 May 2017 Rai Saritha 10 August 2017 SoftBank Fund Is Said to Invest 2 5 Billion in Flipkart Bloomberg com Retrieved 12 July 2018 Alkhalisi Zahraa 6 October 2017 Where the huge SoftBank Saudi tech fund is investing Cnn com Retrieved 4 November 2018 SoftBank Vision Fund announces first major close PDF Softbank jp 20 May 2017 Retrieved 9 November 2018 Masayoshi Son and Saudi Arabia launch a monster technology fund The Economist 25 May 2017 Retrieved 9 November 2018 Kerry A Dolan 5 April 2017 Japanese Billionaire Masayoshi Son Larry Ellison Apple Saudi Arabia All Bet On Vision Fund Forbes com Retrieved 9 November 2018 Torchia Andrew 20 May 2017 Softbank Saudi tech fund becomes world s biggest with 93 billion of capital Reuters com Retrieved 9 November 2018 Benner Katie 10 October 2017 Masayoshi Son s Grand Plan for SoftBank s 100 Billion Vision Fund The New York Times Retrieved 9 November 2018 Shu Catherine 26 July 2019 SoftBank announces AI focused second 108 billion Vision Fund with LPs including Microsoft Apple and Foxconn Tech Crunch Retrieved 3 August 2019 Hope Rolfe Winkler Liz Hoffman and Bradley 7 February 2020 WSJ News Exclusive New SoftBank Tech Fund Falls Far Short of 108 Billion Fundraising Goal The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 10 February 2020 Lunden Ingrid 9 June 2017 SoftBank is buying robotics firms Boston Dynamics and Schaft from Alphabet Brown Eliot 25 August 2017 SoftBank Finalizes 4 4 Billion WeWork Investment The Wall Street Journal SoftBank to work with Saudi Arabia on new city Reuters com 24 October 2017 Retrieved 4 November 2018 Tech in Asia Connecting Asia s startup ecosystem www techinasia com Retrieved 21 November 2017 Hook Leslie 29 December 2017 SoftBank deal helps clear path towards Uber IPO Financial Times London Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 29 December 2017 Hook Leslie 28 December 2017 SoftBank led group to acquire 9bn stake in Uber Financial Times London Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 29 December 2017 SoftBank s Vision Fund Invests 560 Million in Auto1 Group Bloomberg com 14 January 2018 Retrieved 1 February 2018 DoorDash is raising 535 million from SoftBank and others at a 1 4 billion valuation Recode Retrieved 2 March 2018 Whoops SoftBank CEO reveals Walmart has acquired Flipkart TechCrunch techcrunch com 9 May 2018 Retrieved 9 May 2018 Brown Eliot Kusisto Laura 27 September 2018 SoftBank Invests 400 Million in Home Selling Startup Opendoor The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 27 September 2018 Jones Rory Said Summer 30 September 2018 Saudi Arabia Shelves Work on SoftBank s 200 Billion Solar Project The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 1 October 2018 SoftBank sets indicative share price of 1 500 yen for next month s IPO TechCrunch Retrieved 30 November 2018 SoftBank invests in parking startup ParkJockey pushing valuation to 1 billion TechCrunch 10 December 2018 Retrieved 11 December 2018 SoftBank s Vision Fund is preparing to invest 1 billion in Grab TechCrunch 21 December 2018 Retrieved 21 December 2018 SoftBank Robotics Singapore Pte Ltd 25 September 2019 SoftBank Robotics Singapore Launches AI Commercial Vacuum Cleaner Whiz via softbankrobotics com Eavis Peter Merced Michael J de la 30 September 2019 WeWork I P O Is Withdrawn as Investors Grow Wary The New York Times Griffith Erin 10 December 2019 SoftBank Takes Loss in Sale of Wag Dog Walking Start Up The New York Times SoftBank loses one of the few board members who could challenge Masayoshi Son 27 December 2019 via LATimes com Goel Vindu Singh Karan Deep Griffith Erin 13 January 2020 Oyo Scales Back as SoftBank Funded Companies Retreat The New York Times Merced Michael J de la 6 February 2020 Elliott Management Is Said to Push for Change at SoftBank The New York Times Hu Joshua Franklin 3 March 2020 SoftBank CEO tells U S investors he ll be more careful Reuters via www reuters com Shu Catherine 18 November 2019 Yahoo Japan and Line Corp confirm merger agreement TechCrunch Retrieved 7 April 2020 Coronavirus delays Yahoo Japan s merger with Line Nikkei Asia Retrieved 11 June 2021 Several 22 March 2020 SoftBank plans 41bn asset sale to cut debt amid coronavirus tumult Financial Times Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 23 March 2020 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint uses authors parameter link Alibaba s Jack Ma quits SoftBank board after 18B Vision Fund loss 18 May 2020 via NYPost Lombardo Dana Cimilluca Cara SoftBank considers sale or IPO of British chip designer Arm Holdings MarketWatch Retrieved 30 September 2021 How SoftBank s sale of Arm China sowed the seeds of discord Nikkei Asia Retrieved 11 June 2021 Inagaki Kana 11 August 2020 SoftBank rebounds from historic loss with 12bn quarterly profit Financial Times Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 11 August 2020 Shu Catherine 2 September 2020 SoftBank Vision Fund 2 leads 100 million Series C in digital therapeutics company Biofourmis TechCrunch Retrieved 3 September 2020 Softbank was identified as being the Nasdaq whale CNBC 4 September 2020 SoftBank option purchases raise eyebrows as Wall Street backtracks 5 September 2020 Lachapelle Tara 5 September 2020 Nasdaq Whale Softbank s huge tech options bet answers stock rally riddle Business Standard India Nasdaq Whale and how SoftBank s derivative bets may have powered the US tech rally 5 September 2020 Gallagher Sam Nussey Chris 18 September 2020 SoftBank exits cellphone distributor Brightstar in telecoms sell down Reuters Retrieved 26 January 2021 Narioka Kosaku Dvorak Phred 18 September 2020 SoftBank Sells Brightstar Carrying On Its Divestiture Spree The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 13 October 2020 Rosoff Matt 13 September 2020 Nvidia to buy Arm Holdings from SoftBank for 40 billion CNBC Retrieved 13 September 2020 Moorhead Patrick It s Official NVIDIA Acquires Arm For 40B To Create What Could Be A Computing Juggernaut Forbes Retrieved 14 September 2020 Arash Massoudi Robert Smith James Fontanella Khan 12 September 2020 SoftBank set to sell UK s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for 40bn Financial Times Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 12 September 2020 Hyundai Motor Buys 80 of Robotics Firm Boston Dynamics Bloomberg com 11 December 2020 Retrieved 21 January 2021 SoftBank Sells 2 Billion in Uber Stock as Rides Recover Bloomberg com 11 January 2021 Retrieved 21 January 2021 a b c Softbank just shocked its critics by landing the biggest profit in the history of a Japanese company CNBC 12 May 2021 Archived from the original on 15 May 2021 Israel s eToro to go public through 10 4 bln SPAC deal backed by SoftBank others Financial Post 16 March 2021 Retrieved 2 September 2021 SoftBank Group to acquire 40 stake in AutoStore for 2 8 billion The Japan Times 6 April 2021 Retrieved 2 September 2021 India s Adani Green to buy SoftBank backed SB Energy in 3 5 billion deal Reuters 19 May 2021 Retrieved 19 May 2021 Dvorak Phred 19 May 2021 SoftBank Sells Renewable Energy Unit in India The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 19 May 2021 Burgos Jonathan Adani Green To Buy SB Energy India For 3 5 Billion From SoftBank Bharti Forbes Retrieved 19 May 2021 GmbH finanzen net Softbank s Vision Fund could go public in a 300 million SPAC deal report says markets businessinsider com Retrieved 2 September 2021 Softbank buys Yahoo Japan brand from Verizon for 1 6 billion RCR Wireless News 7 July 2021 Retrieved 2 September 2021 SoftBank buys perpetual Yahoo trademark license for 1 6 billion TechCrunch 5 July 2021 Retrieved 2 September 2021 SoftBank CEO to Take Stake in Vision Fund 2 Barron s https www barrons com articles softbank ceo to take stake in vision fund 2 51628617760 Massoudi Arash 7 September 2021 Deutsche Telekom deepens bet on US market with SoftBank deal Financial Times Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 7 September 2021 Kharpal Arjun 8 August 2022 Japanese giant SoftBank dumps its entire stake in Uber as losses mount at its investment unit CNBC Nussey Sam 8 August 2022 SoftBank posts record net loss on 23 1 bln Vision Fund hit Reuters Ownership SOFTBANK GROUP CORP Shareholders Board Members Managers and Company Profile JP3436100006 MarketScreener Corporate history JP SBI SoftBank aims at 97 coverage for TD LTE network says CTO Yoshioki Chika Global Telecoms Business Archived from the original on 17 March 2017 Retrieved 7 December 2016 Chinese online medical platform Ping An Healthcare and Technology to raise US 1b from Hong Kong IPO scmp com 12 April 2018 Retrieved 13 December 2019 Softbank Invests in a New Age Cloud Company Fortune Retrieved 11 May 2018 Tokopedia raises 1 1b from SoftBank Alibaba to evolve into infrastructure as a service TechinAsia Retrieved 29 July 2019 a b Changes of Corporate Names SoftBank Corp Group Companies About Us SoftBank Group Retrieved 7 December 2016 Bill Morrow Vodafone s turnaround guru Walks Away Cellular news com 24 June 2006 Retrieved 9 November 2007 念願のiPhoneを獲得した舞台裏 ソフトバンク トラウマ乗り越える in Japanese 6 June 2008 Archived from the original on 13 June 2008 Retrieved 7 June 2008 SoftBank reaches deal with Apple to sell iPhone handsets in Japan this year International Herald Tribune The New York Times 4 June 2008 archived from the original on 8 June 2008 announces 14 new members Open Handset Alliance 9 December 2008 Retrieved 15 October 2013 Chang Alexandra 29 May 2012 SoftBank Unveils World s First Phone With Radiation Detection Wired Retrieved 29 May 2012 Veteran actor Kai kun retires from SoftBank Otousan role www japanhbvn nb nbvnbvvhjcgjator com Retrieved 26 March 2015 Griner David 12 August 2012 Meet Japan s Most Popular Ad Family Adweek Retrieved 21 June 2018 Corkill Edan 29 April 2012 Otosan Japan s top dog Japan Times Retrieved 26 March 2015 Corkill Edan 29 April 2012 Otosan Japan s top dog Retrieved 7 December 2016 via Japan Times Online Shannon Jonathan 9 July 2015 Axa reaches millions of people through augmented reality game Ingress Campaign Dean Barker Looking Back At 35th America s Cup Archived from the original on 19 October 2017 Japan at the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 FIBA basketball Retrieved 30 September 2021 Turner David 21 March 2007 Japan offers baby bonus to workers Financial Times Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 29 September 2015 Cash for Kids Japan s Employers Offer Baby Bonuses ABC News Archived from the original on 30 September 2015 Retrieved 29 September 2015 Cash for Kids Japan s Employers Offer Baby Bonuses ABC News ABC News 30 September 2015 Archived from the original on 30 September 2015 Retrieved 11 February 2019 A shrinking work force solution Baby bonuses businessrecord com Retrieved 30 September 2021 SoftBank s 100 Billion Vision Fund Is Run by These 10 Men Bloomberg com 27 September 2018 Retrieved 16 January 2019 Brooker Katrina 14 January 2019 The most powerful person in Silicon Valley Fast Company Retrieved 16 January 2019 Sherman Alex 1 August 2018 Masayoshi Son building Vision Fund into family say founders www cnbc com Retrieved 16 January 2019 Ghurye Shruti 7 February 2019 Masayoshi Son Betting big and winning Retrieved 7 February 2019 a b c d SoftBank s Son finds more love for early stage investing new fund planned Reuters 10 March 2019 Retrieved 28 October 2021 a b c d e Ji young Sohn 28 January 2019 Herald Interview Rebranded SoftBank Ventures Asia to form new fund for AI startups in Asia The Korea Herald Retrieved 28 October 2021 a b Funding talent amp decision making are the biggest challenges for innovators says SoftBank Ventures Asia s JP Lee Q amp A TechNode Global 14 September 2021 Retrieved 28 October 2021 SoftBank Ventures Asia hits 341m second close for early stage fund Nikkei Asia Retrieved 28 October 2021 Horwitz Josh 12 June 2013 Tokopedia Lands Funding To Help It Become Indonesia s Alibaba TNW Asia Retrieved 28 October 2021 www businesstimes com sg https www businesstimes com sg technology singapore car marketplace carro scores us60m in series b funding Retrieved 28 October 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help Sender Henny 25 September 2018 TPG partners with SoftBank Ventures Korea for 300m China fund Financial Times Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 28 October 2021 Min kyung Jung 3 January 2019 Softbank Ventures Korea rebrands as Softbank Ventures Asia The Korea Herald Retrieved 28 October 2021 소프트뱅크벤처스 AI 스타트업 투자 1천800억 펀드 조성 hankyung com in Korean 24 March 2021 Retrieved 28 October 2021 a b Byung wook Kim 23 June 2021 Local AI startup VoyagerX raises 27m from SoftBank others The Korea Herald Retrieved 28 October 2021 Tech in Asia Connecting Asia s startup ecosystem www techinasia com Retrieved 28 October 2021 Additional sources EditAnnual Report PDF JP SoftBank 2008 archived from the original PDF on 19 April 2009 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to SoftBank Official website SoftBank Group Official website SoftBank Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title SoftBank Group amp oldid 1127966275, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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