SoftBank Group

"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.
Native name
ソフトバンクグループ株式会社
SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki gaisha
Company typePublic KK
ISINJP3436100006
IndustryConglomerate
Founded3 September 1981; 43 years ago (1981-09-03)
FounderMasayoshi Son
HeadquartersTokyo PortCity Takeshiba,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
,
Japan
Key people
Masayoshi Son
(Chairman and CEO)
Products
RevenueIncrease ¥6.76 trillion (2023)[1]
Increase ¥57.8 billion (2023)[1]
Increase ¥209.2 billion (2023)[1]
AUMIncrease ¥347.7 billion (2023)[2]
Total assetsIncrease ¥46.72 trillion (2023)[1]
Total equityIncrease ¥13.24 trillion (2023)[1]
OwnerMasayoshi Son (29.16%)
Number of employees
Increase 65,352 (2023)[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
Websitegroup.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, Japan 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]

SoftBank was ranked in the 2017 Forbes Global 2000 list as the 36th largest public company in the world[24] and the second-largest publicly traded company in Japan after Toyota.[25]

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.[26]

Although SoftBank does not affiliate itself to any traditional keiretsu, it has close ties with Mizuho Financial Group, its primary lender.[27]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Consolidated financial report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024" (PDF). SoftBank Group. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b "SoftBank Group Report 2024" (PDF). SoftBank Group. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  3. ^ "SoftBank Gives Up Pretending It Isn't a Fund". Bloomberg.com. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  4. ^ "SoftBank Group Corp". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  5. ^ Crane, John (21 May 2019). "Exposing SoftBank's Hunger for Saudi Blood Money". The Startup.
  6. ^ Wong, Jacky (9 May 2018). "How Much Is the World's Largest Tech Fund Worth to SoftBank?". The Wall Street Journal.
  7. ^ "SoftBank's Son defends Vision Fund at Saudi conference". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  8. ^ "First Bitcoin, Now WeWork: Is Masayoshi Son the Worst Investor Ever?". CCN.com. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  9. ^ Elstrom, Peter (2 December 2019). "SoftBank's startup bookkeeping draws scrutiny after WeWork fiasco". The Japan Times. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Masayoshi Son: Inside the eccentric world of the controversial Japanese billionaire investor". The Independent. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Some suggested slides for SoftBank". Financial Times. 10 November 2022. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Masayoshi Son's $58 Billion Payday on Alibaba". Bloomberg.com. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  13. ^ "SoftBank's Woes: A Deep Dive". ARPU!. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  14. ^ Pollack, Andrew (19 February 1995). "A Japanese Gambler Hits the Jackpot With Softbank". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  15. ^ Singh, Manish (8 August 2022). "SoftBank cautions longer startup winter if unicorn founders unwilling to cut valuations". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  16. ^ Pressman, Aaron (11 April 2023). "Some Boston startups backed by Japanese giant SoftBank are floundering". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  17. ^ "SoftBank Vision Fund: Portfolio returns, investments and strategy". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  18. ^ "Arm Sales Rise as SoftBank Targets 2023 IPO for Chip Firm". Bloomberg.com. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  19. ^ "SoftBank moves to sell down most of its Alibaba stake". Financial Times. 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  20. ^ Singh, Manish (22 September 2022). "SoftBank cuts internal valuation of $10 billion Oyo to $2.7 billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  21. ^ "Fidelity, After Becoming WeWork's Second-Largest Shareholder, Adds to Stake Once Again". CoStar. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  22. ^ "Deutsche Telekom raises stake in T-Mobile US, swaps shares with Softbank". Fierce Wireless. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  23. ^ "Number of subscribers by Carriers｜TCA". Tca.or.jp.
  24. ^ "Forbes Global 2000". Forbes. 2017.
  25. ^ "The World's Largest Public Companies". Forbes. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  26. ^ "Origin of Brand Name and Logo". SoftBank Group Corp. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  27. ^ "SoftBank in talks with Mizuho and Japan banks for $2.8bn loan". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 23 November 2019.