"SoftBank" redirects here. For the venture capital fund, see SoftBank Vision Fund. For the Japanese professional baseball team, see Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
SoftBank Group Corp.
Headquarters in Kaigan, Minato, Tokyo
Native name
ソフトバンクグループ株式会社
Romanized name
SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki gaisha
Company type
Public KK
Traded as
TYO: 9984
TOPIX Core30 component
Nikkei 225 component
ISIN
JP3436100006
Industry
Conglomerate
Founded
3 September 1981; 42 years ago (1981-09-03)
Founder
Masayoshi Son
Headquarters
Tokyo PortCity Takeshiba,
Minato-ku, Tokyo
,
Japan
Key people
Masayoshi Son (Chairman and CEO)
Products
Investment
Telecommunications
Internet service
Internet of Things
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
E-commerce
Revenue
¥6.57 trillion (2022)[1]
Operating income
¥−469.13 billion (2022)[1]
Net income
¥−789.8 billion (2022)[1]
AUM
¥79.24 billion (2022)[2]
Total assets
¥43.94 trillion (2022)[1]
Total equity
¥10.65 trillion (2022)[1]
Owner
Masayoshi Son (29.16%)
Number of employees
63,339 (2022)[2]
Subsidiaries
SoftBank Group Capital Limited
SoftBank Group Japan
SB Pan Pacific Corporation
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
SB Investment Advisers (UK)
SB Global Advisers
SB Energy
ASN
17676
Website
group.softbank
SoftBank Group Corp. (ソフトバンクグループ株式会社, SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki gaisha) is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management.[3] The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a multitude of markets and industries ranging from the internet to automation.[4] With over $100 billion in capital at its onset, SoftBank's Vision Fund is the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund. Fund investors included sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.[5][6][7]
The company is known for the leadership of its controversial[8][9][10][11] founder and largest shareholder Masayoshi Son.[12][13][14] Its investee companies, subsidiaries and divisions, including several unprofitable unicorns,[15][16] operate in robotics, artificial intelligence, software, logistics, transportation, biotechnology, robotic process automation, proptech, real estate, hospitality, broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, information technology, finance, media and marketing, and other areas.[17] Among its most internationally recognizable current stockholdings are stakes in Arm[18] (semiconductors), Alibaba[19] (e-commerce), OYO Rooms[20] (hospitality), WeWork[21] (coworking) and Deutsche Telekom[22] (telecommunications). 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.[23] Poor investment decisions of Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group led to a panoply of losing investments across the history of the company.[24][25]
SoftBank was ranked in the 2017 Forbes Global 2000 list as the 36th largest public company in the world[26] and the second-largest publicly traded company in Japan after Toyota.[27]
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.[28]
Although SoftBank does not affiliate itself to any traditional keiretsu, it has close ties with Mizuho Financial Group, its primary lender.[29]
^ abcde"Consolidated financial report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023" (PDF). SoftBank Group.
^ ab"SoftBank Group Report 2023" (PDF). SoftBank Group.
^"SoftBank Gives Up Pretending It Isn't a Fund". Bloomberg.com. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
^"SoftBank Group Corp". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^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.
^"SoftBank's Woes: A Deep Dive". ARPU!. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
^Pollack, Andrew (19 February 1995). "A Japanese Gambler Hits the Jackpot With Softbank". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
^Singh, Manish (8 August 2022). "SoftBank cautions longer startup winter if unicorn founders unwilling to cut valuations". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
^Pressman, Aaron (11 April 2023). "Some Boston startups backed by Japanese giant SoftBank are floundering". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
^"SoftBank Vision Fund: Portfolio returns, investments and strategy". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
^"Arm Sales Rise as SoftBank Targets 2023 IPO for Chip Firm". Bloomberg.com. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
^"SoftBank moves to sell down most of its Alibaba stake". Financial Times. 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
^Singh, Manish (22 September 2022). "SoftBank cuts internal valuation of $10 billion Oyo to $2.7 billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
^"Fidelity, After Becoming WeWork's Second-Largest Shareholder, Adds to Stake Once Again". CoStar. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
^"Deutsche Telekom raises stake in T-Mobile US, swaps shares with Softbank". Fierce Wireless. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
^"Number of subscribers by Carriers|TCA". Tca.or.jp.
^"SoftBank's Top 10 Worst Startup Investments - ValueWalk". www.valuewalk.com. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
^Nussey, Sam; Bridge, Anton (21 June 2023). "SoftBank to shift to 'offence mode' as AI booms". Reuters. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^"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.
fund. In 2019, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 was founded. The total fair value of both funds as of 31 March 2021 was $154 billion. The Softbank Vision Fund was...
Daiei Hawks until 2005, when they were purchased by SoftBankGroup, becoming the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Since 1993, the Hawks have played at the Mizuho...
SoftBank Capital is a venture capital group in the United States, focusing on technology and telecom early stage businesses. It was founded by SoftBank...
name changed to SoftBank Telecom Corporation 2015-04: Company merged into Softbank Mobile Corp. 2018-12: Company goes into IPO "Softbank Telecom Corp.:...
officer (CEO) of SoftBankGroup International and chief operating officer (COO) of SoftBankGroup Corporation. He oversaw SoftBank's operations and strategy...
accompanying the conversion of SoftBank Corp. (SoftBankGroup Corp. as of Jan 2021) into a pure holding company, Softbank Finance Corporation became an...
to acquire a majority stake in Fortress from Softbank for an undisclosed sum. Fortress Investment Group LLC was founded as a private equity firm in 1998...
Companies the firm has been involved with significantly include Endeavor, SoftBankGroup, WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship. It has also been involved with...
"ARM chip designer to be bought by Japan's Softbank". BBC News. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2022. "SoftBank Offers to Acquire ARM Holdings for GBP 24...
Corporation. It was established in 2018 as a joint venture between the SoftBankGroup and Yahoo Japan through Z Holdings, their holding company. With 38 million...
SoftBankGroup reported $9.2 billion in write-downs on its investments in WeWork. This amount was approximately 90% of the $10.3 billion SoftBank invested...
hold by SoftBankGroup. The largest shareholders in early 2024 were: SoftBankGroup (13.9%) The Vanguard Group (3.39%) BlackRock (3.02%) Norges Bank (1.99%)...
State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar as its strategic group advisor. The company's current and former investors include SoftBankGroup, Didi...
Japanese internet company owned by A Holdings a joint venture between SoftBankGroup of Japan, and Naver Corporation of South Korea, founded in 2023 by the...
stake of $2.7 billion in Uber. In 2016, SoftBankGroup and the PIF announced that they would establish a SoftBank Vision Fund which aims to invest up to...
internet holding company owned by A Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBankGroup and Naver Corporation. It was founded in 2019 as a result of Yahoo!...
which is partly-owned by SoftBank. On 1 April 2015, Ymobile Corporation merged into Softbank Mobile Corporation (now SoftBank Corporation), with the Y...
the company are SoftBankGroup (22.78%) and Nexus Venture Partners (9.23%). Other investors with over 5% stake include The Carlyle Group, CPP Investment...
December 2020, Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80% stake in the company from SoftBank for approximately $880 million. SoftBankGroup retains about 20% through...
2018). "SoftBankGroup Corp. subsidiary buys online seller of used smartphones". South Florida Business Journal. Sladky, Lynne (2019-10-25). "SoftBank hopes...
was formerly a senior executive at Google. He was the president of SoftBankGroup from October 2014 to June 2016. On June 1, 2018, Arora took on the role...
established as ONSale Co., Ltd. on July 1, 1998, as a joint venture between Softbank and onSale Inc. to engage in the online interactive auction business in...