SoftBank

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SoftBank Group Corp.
ソフトバンクグループ株式会社
Public
Traded as TYO: 9984
OTC Pink: SFTBF
Industry Telecommunications
Founded September 3, 1981; 42 years ago (1981-09-03)
Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
Key people
 Masayoshi Son
(Chairman & CEO)
Nikesh Arora
(President & COO)
Products Fixed line and mobile telephony, Internet services, digital television
Revenue Increase ¥8.67 trillion (FY2014)[1]
Increase ¥1 trillion (FY2014)[1]
Increase ¥668 billion (FY2014)[1]
Total assets Increase ¥21 trillion (FY2014)[1]
Total equity Increase ¥2.8 trillion (FY2014)[1]
Number of employees
 69,067 (2015 consolidated)[2]
Subsidiaries SoftBank Corp. (99.99%)
Sprint Corporation (80% as of August 6, 2013 [3])
SB Creative
Yahoo! Japan (~35%)
GungHo Online Entertainment (58.5%)[4]Alibaba Group (37%)
Supercell (75%)
Website www.softbank.co.jp

SoftBank Group Corp. (ソフトバンクグループ株式会社 Sofutobanku Gurūpu Kabushiki-gaisha?)[5] is a Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, Internet, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses.[6]

SoftBank was established in 1981 and is headquartered in Tokyo. As of 2015, SoftBank was the 62nd largest company in the world (based on a composite of sales, profit, assets and market value).

History

SoftBank was established in Tokyo, Japan, on September 3, 1981. In May 2015, SoftBank was ranked in the Forbes Global 2000 list as the 62nd largest public company in the world.[7] Between 2009 and 2014, SoftBank's market capitalization increased by 557%, the fourth largest relative increase in the world over that period.[8] At the beginning of 2015, the company was the third largest public company in Japan after Toyota and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial.[9]

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. Additionally, it has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo!, E-Trade, Ustream.tv, EF Education First and Morningstar. SBI Group is a Japanese financial services company that began in 1999 as a branch of SoftBank.[10]

SoftBank was the only official carrier of the iPhone in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S when it became available on au by KDDI as well.[11]

On July 6, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank’s acquisition of Sprint Corporation for $22.2 billion for a 78% ownership interest in Sprint. The acquisition involved payment of $17.2 billion in cash to Sprint shareholders, with the balance $5 billion as capital contribution. The transaction was financed by the way of cash and a bridge loan from a consortium of banks.[12]

In May, 2015, Masayoshi Son said he would appoint Nikesh Arora, a former Google executive, as Representative Director and President of SoftBank. Arora has been heading SoftBank's investment arm.[13]

In June 2015, Softbank announced it would invest $1 billion in the Korean e-commerce website Coupang as part of its overseas expansion plans.[14]

Timeline

  • 1995 – Bought COMDEX from The Interface Group
  • 1999 – Allowed organizers of COMDEX to restrict admission of media, creating a spiraling effect
  • 2001 – Sold COMDEX to Key3Media, a spin-off of Ziff Davis
  • January 28, 2005 – SoftBank becomes the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball team
  • March 17, 2006 – SoftBank announces its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japan's $78 billion mobile market
  • Early April, 2006 – SoftBank completed the purchase of 23% of Betfair, an Internet betting exchange
  • Aug, 2006: SoftBank sold all its shares of SBI Group to a subsidiary of SBI's holding company, making SBI independent
  • October 1, 2006 – Vodafone Japan changes its corporate name, mobile phone brand name, and its mobile phone domain name to SoftBank Mobile, SoftBank, and [mb.softbank.jp] respectively[15]
  • January 28, 2008 – It was announced that SoftBank and Tiffany & Co. collaborated in making a limited 10 model-only cellphone. This cellphone contains more than 400 platinum diamond, totaling more than 20 carat. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen[16]
  • June 4, 2008 – SoftBank Mobile announced partnership with Apple and brought the iPhone (3G) to Japan later in 2008[17]
  • February 3, 2010 – SoftBank acquired 13.7% in Ustream with the option to increase shares to 30% by July 2011[18]
  • October 1, 2010 – Ayumi Hamasaki becomes the commercial spokesperson[19]
  • October 3, 2012 – Masayoshi Son announced the take over of its competitor eAccess[20]
  • October 15, 2012 – SoftBank announced plans to take control of Sprint Nextel by purchasing a 70% stake for $20 billion[21]
  • January 7, 2013 – SoftBank announced that eAccess became a wholly owned subsidiary effective January 1, 2013
  • July 1, 2013 – SoftBank announced that Willcom became a wholly owned subsidiary effective July 1, 2013, after termination of rehabilitation proceedings
  • July 10, 2013 – SoftBank completes acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corporation for $21.6 billion for 78% stake in the company. The new company is now known as the Sprint Corporation
  • August 6, 2013 – SoftBank purchases approximately 2% more shares of Sprint Corporation, increasing its ownership stake in the company to 80%
  • October 2013 – SoftBank had acquired 51% of stake in Supercell for reported $2.1 billion.
  • October 25, 2014 - SoftBank invested $210 million in OlaCabs [22]
  • October 28, 2014 - SoftBank invested $627 million in Snapdeal with 30% stake in the company
  • November 2014 - SoftBank invested $100 million in Housing.com with 30% stake in the company[23]
  • SoftBank acquired DramaFever[24]
  • June 1, 2015 - SoftBank acquired an additional 22.7% stake in Supercell, owning total 73.2% of the company and becoming the sole external shareholder of the company.
  • February 16, 2016 - SoftBank announced they would rebuy a record 14.2% of shares, valued at $4.4bn, in order to boost investor confidence.[25]
  • March 31, 2016 - SoftBank announced they would sell shares worth $7.9 billion of their stake in Alibaba Group.

Marketing

Since June 2007, SoftBank's marketing and commercials have principally revolved around "Otousan", the canine patriarch of the otherwise human "Shirason, "Kaito".[26] The Otousan advertising series proved to be highly 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 in Japan.[27]

Baby bonus

Softbank, along with some other companies in Japan,[28] offer 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.[29][30]

Notes

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  8. ↑ http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/audit-services/capital-market/publications/assets/document/pwc-global-top-100-march-update.pdf
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  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  25. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35584328
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Turner, David Japan offers baby bonus to workers March 21, 2007 Financial Times Retrieved September 29, 2015
  29. ↑ Cash for Kids: Japan's Employers Offer 'Baby Bonuses' ABC News Retrieved September 29, 2015
  30. ↑ A shrinking work force solution: Baby bonuses BusinessRecord Retrieved September 29, 2015

References

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External links

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