SoftBank Group

"SoftBank" redirects here. For the venture capital fund, see SoftBank Vision Fund. For the Japanese professional baseball team, see Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
"J-Phone" redirects here. Not to be confused with iPhone.

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
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.