24 Facts About SoftBank Mobile

1.

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

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2.

Logo of SoftBank Mobile is based on the flag of the Kaientai, a naval trading company founded in 1865, near the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, by Sakamoto Ryoma.

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3.

SoftBank Mobile was founded in September 1981 as a SOFTBANK Corp by then-24-year-old Masayoshi Son, initially as a software distributor.

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4.

In September 1995, SoftBank Mobile agreed to purchase US-based Ziff Davis publishing for $2.

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5.

SoftBank Mobile bought COMDEX from The Interface Group on 1 April 1995 for $800 million and ZDI on 29 February 1996.

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6.

SoftBank Mobile sold COMDEX to Key3Media, a spin-off of Ziff Davis, in 2001.

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7.

On 28 January 2005, SoftBank Mobile became the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Mobile Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball team.

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8.

On 17 March 2006, SoftBank announced its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japan's $78 billion mobile markets.

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9.

On 1 July 2013, SoftBank Mobile announced that Willcom was a wholly-owned subsidiary, after the termination of rehabilitation proceedings.

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10.

In June 2015, SoftBank Mobile announced it would invest US$1 billion in the Korean e-commerce website Coupang as part of its overseas expansion plans.

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11.

Meanwhile, SoftBank Mobile was renamed to SoftBank Corp, the now-former name of the company as a whole.

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12.

On 14 February 2017, SoftBank Mobile Group agreed to buy Fortress Investment Group LLC for $3.

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13.

In July 2019, SoftBank Mobile announced creating of a "Vision Fund 2", excluding participation from the Saudi Arabia government and including investors Apple, Foxconn, Microsoft and others.

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14.

In November 2018, SoftBank Mobile announced it would make an IPO with the cost of share of $13.

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15.

In December 2018, SoftBank Mobile announced its intention to invest $1 billion on ride-hailing startup Grab.

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16.

In July 2020, SoftBank Mobile announced that it is considering to sell or IPO British chip designer Arm Holdings, which has been in a feud with the Chinese over control of its local subsidiary, but it did not have the majority ownership due to a decision made by Softbank to sell off the stake to the local partner.

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17.

That month SoftBank Mobile sold Brightstar Corporation to Brightstar Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.

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18.

American chip designing company Nvidia announced plans on 13 September 2020 to acquire ARM from SoftBank Mobile, pending regulatory approval, for a value of US $40 billion in stock and cash, became the largest semiconductor acquisition to date.

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19.

In January 2021, SoftBank Mobile sold $2 billion in Uber Technologies shares through affiliate firm SB Cayman.

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20.

In 2010, SoftBank Mobile founded Wireless City Planning, a subsidiary that planned the development of TD-LTE networks throughout Japan.

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21.

SoftBank Mobile operates in the eco-power industry through its SB Energy subsidiary.

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22.

On 4 June 2008, SoftBank Mobile announced a partnership with Apple and brought the iPhone to Japan later in 2008.

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23.

SoftBank Mobile was the only official carrier of the iPhone in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S in 2011, when au by KDDI began to offer it.

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24.

SoftBank Mobile partnered with the Ingress augmented reality game, supporting the branded "SoftBank Mobile Ultra Link" in-game item.

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