SoftBank
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | TYO: 9984 OTC Pink: SFTBF |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | September 3, 1981 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Key people | Masayoshi Son (Chairman & CEO) |
| Products | Fixed line and mobile telephony, Internet services, digital television |
| Revenue |  US$ 29.57 billion (2010) |
| Net income | US$ 1.03 billion (2010) |
| Employees | 21,799 (2011) |
| Subsidiaries | SoftBank Mobile SOFTBANK TELECOM Yahoo! Japan (~40%) SoftBank BB |
| Website | SoftBank English Website |
SoftBank Corp. (ソフトバンク株式会社 Sofutobanku Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses.
SoftBank was established in Tokyo, Japan on September 3, 1981, and had a market capitalization of approximately US$43.52 billion at March 2011.
SoftBank's corporate profile includes various other companies such as Japanese broadband company Cable & Wireless IDC, cable company BB-Serve, and gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment. Additionally, it has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo!, E-Trade, Ustream.tv and Morningstar. SBI Group is a Japanese financial services company that began in 1999 as a branch of SoftBank.[1]
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.[2]
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[edit] 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.
- 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.[3]
- 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, totalling more than 20 karat. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen.[4]
- June 4, 2008 - SoftBank Mobile announced partnership with Apple and brought the iPhone (3G) to Japan later in 2008 [5]
- February 3, 2010 - SoftBank acquired 13.7% in Ustream with the option to increase shares to 30% by July 2011.[6]
- October 1, 2010 - Ayumi Hamasaki becomes the commercial spokesperson.[7]
[edit] Investments
| Company | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Yahoo! | November 1995 | $2 Million |
| InMobi | September 2011 | $200 Million |
Yahoo! holds 40.16% of Softbank stock. [8]
[edit] Notes
- ^ SBI Group, Corporate history
- ^ SoftBank reaches deal with Apple to sell iPhone handsets in Japan this year, International Herald Tribune.
- ^ ITmedia +D モバイル：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
- ^ "上戸彩：超高価ケータイ「ないしょにしてね」" (in Japanese). Sports Nippon. Archived from the original on 2008-01-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20080130125848/http://mainichi.jp/enta/geinou/news/20080129spn00m200016000c.html. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ "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). 2008-06-06. http://bizplus.nikkei.co.jp/colm/nbonline.cfm?i=2008060600805cs&p=1. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- ^ Japan Today Softbank profit soars; buys stake in Ustream, February 3, 2010
- ^ Yahoo Japan
- ^ http://www.yahoo.co.jp/
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: SoftBank |
- SoftBank Corporation
- Masayoshi Son AXA Talents (www.axa-im-talents.com) (August 1, 2006)
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