{"id":5605,"date":"2018-12-19T04:13:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T04:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/softbank-shares-down-as-mobile-unit-makes-tokyo-debut\/"},"modified":"2018-12-19T04:13:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T04:13:53","slug":"softbank-shares-down-as-mobile-unit-makes-tokyo-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/softbank-shares-down-as-mobile-unit-makes-tokyo-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Softbank shares down as mobile unit makes Tokyo debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Media caption<\/span>How the Softbank share sale could change your life<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mobile unit of Japanese tech giant Softbank has had a disappointing debut on the Tokyo stock market. <\/p>\n

The firm aims to raise up to 2.6 trillion yen ($23bn; \u00a318bn) by selling shares at 1,500 yen each in one of the world’s largest ever stock offerings.<\/p>\n

But as markets opened in Tokyo on Wednesday, shares were trading down at 1,463 yen.<\/p>\n

Originally a telecoms firm Softbank has become a vast conglomerate, covering robotics, chips and investments.<\/p>\n

The firm was founded by Japan’s richest man Masayoshi Son.<\/p>\n

What does this sale mean for Softbank? <\/h2>\n

While you could already buy shares in Softbank itself, its telecommunications unit is now available for public purchase.<\/p>\n

This initial public offering (IPO) – a way for company to raise new capital – is seen as cementing Softbanks’ move from domestic telecommunication provider to a global tech investor.<\/p>\n

It was expected to be one of the biggest-ever offerings of shares on the stock market that Japan – or the world – has ever seen.<\/p>\n

The 2.6 trillion yen that Softbank hopes to raise would get the firm close to Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba’s record $25bn IPO in 2014.<\/p>\n

In comparison, Facebook only raised $16bn when it went public in 2012.<\/p>\n

The money raised by the public offering will likely fuel the company’s next wave of tech investments. <\/p>\n

What is Softbank?<\/h2>\n

As a huge conglomerate, the company can be hard to define. Softbank started as a telecoms company but has spread out through many deals and investments. <\/p>\n

The firm has moved into robotics, bought UK chip firm ARM Holdings and invested in satellite start-up OneWeb and ride-sharing firms, as well as in self-driving technology with Toyota. <\/p>\n

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\n EPA<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n Softbank is behind the robot Pepper
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It also acquired Vodafone’s Japanese operations and the US telecoms company Sprint.<\/p>\n

The firm set up a venture fund with Saudi Arabia, which focuses on emerging technology and has around $90bn at its disposal. <\/p>\n

Saudia Arabia is the fund’s major investor and other backers include Apple and Foxconn.<\/p>\n

But Softbank has come under criticism for co-operation in light of the recent death of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n

Company chief Masayoshi Son condemned the Khashoggi murder, but said Softbank must continue to work with Riyadh<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Who is Masayoshi Son?<\/h2>\n

Mr Son founded Softbank and has guided it to become one of the world’s biggest technology companies. <\/p>\n

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\n Masayoshi Son is Japan’s richest man, according to Forbes
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The entrepreneur – Japan’s richest man according to Forbes Magazine – is known for having an eye for firms with big potential and for spotting transformative industries and trends. <\/p>\n

He saw the potential in e-commerce before many others and was an early investor in Alibaba.<\/p>\n

Often described as the Steve Jobs or Bill Gates of the Japanese business world, he’s seen as someone quite different from country’s more conservative corporate culture.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source<\/a> by [author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionHow the Softbank share sale could change your life The mobile unit of Japanese tech giant Softbank has had a disappointing debut on the Tokyo stock market. The firm aims to raise up to 2.6 trillion yen ($23bn; \u00a318bn) by selling shares at 1,500 yen each in … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}