Founding and early years SoftBank was founded in September 1981 as SOFTBANK Corp by then-24-year-old
Masayoshi Son, initially as a software distributor. The company entered the publishing business in May 1982 with the launches of the Oh! PC and Oh! MZ magazines, about
NEC and
Sharp computers respectively. Oh!PC had a circulation of 140,000 copies by 1989. It would go on to become Japan's largest publisher of computer and technology magazines and trade shows. In 1994, the company went
public, valued at $3 billion.
1995–2009 expansion In the 1990s, Son made large investments in
Internet services and the so-called
new economy in general. SoftBank bought
COMDEX from The Interface Group on 1 April 1995 for $800 million and ZDI on 29 February 1996. SoftBank sold COMDEX to Key3Media, a spin-off of
Ziff Davis, in 2001. In 1996, SoftBank formed a
joint venture with American internet company
Yahoo!, creating
Yahoo! Japan (now
LY Corporation), which would become a dominant site in the country. In another highly publicized investment, SoftBank bought 80% of memory manufacturer
Kingston Technology in 1996. When the owners-founders (John Tu and David Sun) announced plans to distribute $100,000,000 of the $1.5B windfall to Kingston employees, it created a very high-profile media stir that lasted well through the 1996 Christmas season; it was on all US networks, as well as international media. A few years later, in 1999, after the market for memory softened substantially, SoftBank sold the company back at a loss to the original owners for about a third of the original price. In October 1999, SoftBank became a
holding company. In 2000, SoftBank made its most successful investment$20 million to a then-fledgling Chinese Internet venture called
Alibaba. This investment turned into $60 billion when Alibaba went public in September 2014. In February 2000, SoftBank Ventures Asia was founded under the leadership of Masayoshi Son to focus on investment in Korean-based Internet companies.,
Osaka, Japan On 28 January 2005, SoftBank became the owner of the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a
Nippon Professional Baseball team. On 17 March 2006, SoftBank announced its agreement to buy
Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japan's $78 billion mobile markets. In April 2006, SoftBank purchased a 23% stake in
Betfair, an Internet betting exchange. In August 2006, SoftBank sold all its shares of
SBI Group to a subsidiary of SBI's holding company, making SBI independent. On 1 October 2006, Vodafone Japan changed its corporate name and service brand name to "SoftBank Mobile" and "SoftBank" respectively. On 28 January 2008, it was announced that SoftBank and
Tiffany & Co. collaborated in making a limited 10 model-only phone. This phone contains more than 400 platinum diamonds, totaling more than 20 carats. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen.
2010–2016 acquisitions On 3 February 2010, SoftBank acquired 13.7% in
Ustream. On 1 October 2010,
Ayumi Hamasaki became the commercial spokesperson. On 3 October 2012, the takeover of competitor
eAccess was announced. On 1 July 2013, SoftBank announced that Willcom was a wholly owned subsidiary, after the termination of rehabilitation proceedings. eAccess was merged with Willcom, which resulted in a new subsidiary and brand from Yahoo! Japan,
Ymobile Corporation. On 15 October 2012, SoftBank announced plans to take control of American
Sprint Nextel by purchasing a 70% stake for $20 billion. On 6 July 2013, the United States
Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank's acquisition for $22.2 billion for a 78% ownership interest in Sprint. On 6 August 2013, SoftBank bought 2% more shares of Sprint Corporation, increasing its ownership stake to 80%. , with decorations for the
Tanabata In October 2013, SoftBank acquired a 51% stake in
Supercell for a reported $2.1 billion. Later on 25 October 2014, they invested $210 million in
OlaCabs, $627 million in
Snapdeal with a 30% stake in the company on 28 October 2014, and a $100 million investment in
Housing.com for a 30% stake in November 2014. In 2013, the company bought a controlling stake in French company Aldebaran Robotics, which was rebranded SoftBank Robotics. In 2014, teams from both companies co-designed
Pepper, a humanoid robot. In 2015, SoftBank increased its stake to 95%. On 28 September 2014, it was reported that SoftBank was in talks to acquire animated film studio
DreamWorks Animation for $3.4 billion, following the box office underperformances of
Rise of the Guardians,
Turbo and
Mr. Peabody & Sherman. The following day, it was reported that SoftBank withdrew its offer. The studio would later go on to be acquired by
Comcast subsidiary
NBCUniversal in 2016. In 2015, SoftBank acquired
DramaFever. In May 2015, Masayoshi Son said he would appoint
Nikesh Arora, a former
Google executive, as
Representative Director and President of SoftBank. Arora had been heading SoftBank's investment arm. On 1 June 2015, SoftBank acquired an additional 22.7% stake in Supercell, increasing its total stake to 73.2% and becoming the sole external shareholder of the company. In June 2015, SoftBank announced it would invest US$1 billion in the Korean e-commerce website
Coupang as part of its overseas expansion plans. In July 2015, SoftBank announced the renaming of the company from SoftBank Corp to SoftBank Group Corp. Meanwhile, SoftBank Mobile was renamed to SoftBank Corp, the now-former name of the company as a whole. On 16 February 2016, SoftBank announced they would repurchase a record 14.2% of shares, valued at $4.4bn, to boost investor confidence. On 31 March 2016, they announced they would sell shares worth $7.9 billion of their stake in Alibaba Group. On 21 June 2016, SoftBank sold its 84% stake in Supercell for a reported US$7.3 billion to
Tencent. On 3 June 2016, Softbank agreed to sell most of its stake in
GungHo Online Entertainment (approximately 23.47%) for about $685 million, ending Softbank's majority ownership. The offer was completed by 22 June. In June 2016, Nikesh Arora stepped down amidst pressure from investors. Board member Ron Fisher and Baer Capital Partners founder Alok Sama undertook Arora's overseas investment duties. One month later, This acquisition was completed on 5 September 2016. On 6 December 2016, after meeting with the then United States
President-elect Donald Trump, chief executive
Masayoshi Son announced SoftBank would be investing US$50 billion in the United States toward businesses creating 50,000 new jobs.
2017–2018 On 30 January 2017, the
Wall Street Journal wrote that SoftBank Group was "weighing an investment of well over $1 billion in shared-office space company
WeWork, in what could be among the first deals from its new $100 billion technology fund." On 20 March, SoftBank bought a $300m stake in WeWork. On 14 February 2017, SoftBank Group agreed to buy
Fortress Investment Group LLC for $3.3 billion. In February 2017, it was announced that
Social Finance Inc. was close to raising $500 million from an investor group led by
Silver Lake, including Softbank. On 28 March 2017, the
Wall Street Journal reported that SoftBank Group Corporation had approached
Didi Chuxing Technology Co. about investing $6 billion to help the ride-hailing firm expand in
self-driving car technologies, with the bulk of the money to come from SoftBank's planned $100 billion Vision Fund. On 18 May 2017, it was reported that Softbank had completed its single largest investment in India to date, investing $1.4 billion in
Paytm. At the time, Softbank was also working on a takeover of
Snapdeal by
Flipkart. On 10 August 2017, Softbank invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart. On 27 May 2017, Softbank and the
Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), the kingdom's main sovereign wealth fund, partnered to create the Softbank Vision Fund, the world's largest private equity fund with a capital of $93 billion. Softbank Group contributed $28 billion to the investment fund, of which $8.2 billion came from the sale of approximately 25% of British multinational Arm Holdings shares. Saudi Arabia is the principal investor in the fund, its Public Investment Fund (PIF) agreed to inject $45 billion into the Vision Fund over 5 years, becoming its largest investor. Other investors include
Apple,
Qualcomm,
Arm,
Foxconn,
Sharp,
Larry Ellison and
Mubadala. The latter agreed to invest $15 billion dollars in the fund, targeting artificial intelligence, communications infrastructure, financial technology, consumer internet, mobile computing and robotics. Through Softbank Vision Fund, CEO Masayoshi Son explained his intent to invest in all companies developing technologies emphasizing global
artificial intelligence, including sectors such as finance or transportation. In July 2019, SoftBank announced creating of a "Vision Fund 2", excluding participation from the Saudi Arabia government and including investors Apple, Foxconn,
Microsoft and others. The fund is reported to focus on AI-based technology and invest approximately $108 billion, including $38 billion of its own funds. In February 2020, however, a report from
Wall Street Journal stated the fund would only up with less than half of that capital. On 8 June 2017,
Alphabet Inc. announced the sale of
Boston Dynamics (robotics companies whose products include
BigDog) to SoftBank Group for an undisclosed sum. On 25 August 2017, SoftBank finalized a $4.4 billion investment in WeWork. On 24 October 2017, Son announced the group would collaborate with Saudi Arabia to develop
Neom, the new high-tech business and industrial city of the Saudi Kingdom. On 14 November 2017, Softbank agreed to invest $10 billion into
Uber. On 29 December 2017, it was reported that a SoftBank-led consortium had invested $9 billion into Uber. The deal, to close in January 2018, would leave SoftBank as Uber's biggest shareholder, with a 15 percent stake. The deal was secured after Uber shareholders voted to "sell their shares to the Japanese conglomerate at a discounted price." Beyond SoftBank, consortium members included
Dragoneer, Tencent,
TPG and
Sequoia. On 14 January 2018, Softbank's Vision Fund announced to invest $560 million in the German used-car sales portal Auto1. On 1 March 2018, Softbank's Vision Fund led a $535 million investment in
DoorDash. In May 2018, CEO
Masayoshi Son revealed during an earnings presentation that Walmart had reached a deal to buy Flipkart. On 27 September 2018, Softbank announced the investment of $400 Million in Home-Selling Startup
Opendoor. In September 2018,
Saudi government officials announced that a planned $200 billion project with SoftBank Group to build the world's biggest solar-power-generation project would be put on hold. In November 2018, SoftBank announced it would make an
IPO of SoftBank Corp., the telecommunications operator, with the cost of share of $13.22 (which is 1,500 yen). The offer of the shares was going to last for a month. Regarding the number of shares, the total value of SoftBank Corp. will reach $21.15 billion, which would be the second-largest IPO ever made. In December 2018, SoftBank invested in
ParkJockey. The startup attempts to monetize parking lots. After the investment round, general valuation of the ParkJockey reached $1 billion. In December 2018, SoftBank announced its intention to invest $1 billion on ride-hailing startup
Grab. Some sources said that the total amount of investment could reach $1.5 billion.
2019–2021 On 25 September 2019, Softbank Robotics launched Whiz robotic vacuum cleaner in Singapore. In September 2019, WeWork's IPO was canceled. In December 2019, Softbank sold its interest in dog-walking startup
Wag at a loss.
Tadashi Yanai,
Fast Retailing's CEO and Japan's richest man at the time, left the board after 18 years. In November 2019, it was announced that
Line Corp. and
Z Holdings were going to be a new subsidiary under
Naver Corporation and SoftBank Group, their respective owners. The closing was delayed until March 2021 due to COVID-19. In January 2020, multiple Softbank-funded startups started cutting their staff, including
Getaround, Oyo,
Rappi,
Katerra and
Zume. In February 2020,
Elliott Management, an activist hedge fund, bought a $2.5 billion stake in Softbank and pushed for restructuring and more transparency, especially regarding its Vision Fund. Consequently, plans for a second Vision Fund were pushed back. In March 2020, SoftBank announced that it was launching an emergency ¥4.5tn ($41bn) asset sale to fund a share buyback and debt reduction. The effort was initiated by Son in order to stem a collapse in the company’s share price due to the pandemic, "This programme will be the largest share buyback and will result in the largest increase in cash balance in the history of SBG [SoftBank Group], reflecting the firm and unwavering confidence we have in our business.". After the programme was unveiled, Softbank share price rose almost 19%. The program included a plan to repurchase ¥2tn of its shares in addition to the ¥500bn buyback it promised 10 days prior. Combined, SoftBank would be repurchasing 45% of its stock. On 1 April 2020, Sprint completed its merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, which was majority-owned by Deutsche Telekom, leaving T-Mobile the parent company. The merger also led to Softbank holding 24% of the new T-Mobile's shares, while 43% of shares are held by Deutsche Telekom. The remaining 33% will be held by others. In May 2020,
Alibaba's co-founder and former CEO
Jack Ma resigned from the board. In July 2020, SoftBank announced that it was considering selling or IPOing 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. For Q2 of 2020, the company's revenues were $12 billion. The firm announced that it would be arranging a new fund worth $555 million. The fund will be used to invest in various companies, including
Amazon, Apple and
Facebook. In September 2020, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $100 million Series C round in Biofourmis. Also in September 2020, Softbank was identified as the Nasdaq whale, where it bought stock options valued in the billions, betting on higher prices for the biggest technology companies. That month, SoftBank sold Brightstar Corporation to Brightstar Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. American chip design company
Nvidia announced plans on 13 September 2020, to acquire ARM from SoftBank, pending regulatory approval, for a value of US $40 billion in stock and cash. This would become the largest semiconductor acquisition to date. SoftBank Group would retain a 10% share in the company, while ARM would maintain its headquarters in Cambridge. But this deal collapsed due to regulatory hurdles. In December 2020,
Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80% stake of
Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for approximately $880 million. SoftBank retains about 20% through an affiliate. In January 2021, SoftBank sold $2 billion in Uber Technologies shares through affiliate firm SB Cayman. In March 2021, SoftBank made a record $36.99 billion profit from its Vision Fund unit and investment gains via the public market debut of
Coupang. SoftBank Group's net profit was $45.88 billion (¥4.99 trillion). In April 2021, Softbank announced plans to acquire a 40% stake in AutoStore for $2.8 billion and in July 2021, it announced it would invest $870 million in the Korean hotel booking platform Yanolja. In May 2021, Softbank stated it would sell SB Energy India to Adani Green Energy, valuing the unit at $3.5 billion. The sale is speculated to mark a shift in the company's trajectory, moving away from investments in
solar energy towards companies dealing with artificial intelligence. Later that month, Bloomberg reported that Vision Fund could go public via a $300 million
SPAC in 2021, listing in Amsterdam. In July 2021, Softbank announced that it would acquire the Yahoo Japan brand from Verizon Communications for $1.6 billion. Also in July, SoftBank invested $100 million in insurance tech company
Ethos Technologies. In August 2021, Son said he would begin to make personal investments alongside
Softbank Group's Vision Fund 2.
2022–present In August 2022, Softbank said that it sold its entire Uber holdings in April–July 2022. It was also reported that Softbank exited
Opendoor in that quarter. Five years after Masayoshi Son’s $100 billion fund entered the financial world to much fanfare, Softbank’s venture firm was crumbling and on the verge of collapse. Its large venture vehicles struggled badly, performing in the bottom of the asset class, and many of Son’s closest associates in the effort had departed from the company. In 2022, SoftBank Group posted a gain of more than US $34 billion from selling down its stake in Alibaba Group Holding. This would result in its stake decreasing from 23.7 percent to 14.6 percent. SoftBank was once a major investor in Alibaba, with 48 percent of its assets in 2020, but by 2022, it had almost none. SoftBank was not directly tied to any specific funding, partnerships, or features related to subsidiaries, such as operations of its subsidiaries including the company's B2B e-commerce site. In February 2023,
Toyota Tsusho announced that it had bought the
controlling interest in SB Energy, which would become a
subsidiary, alongside Toyota Tsusho subsidiary
Eurus Energy. In April 2023, SoftBank Group Corp. announced it was selling to a Singapore-based company run by Masayoshi Son’s youngest brother its Korea-based early-stage venture capital arm SoftBank Ventures Asia Corp. after suffering billions of dollars in losses from failed startup bets. In May 2023, the SoftBank Group announced that losses from the
SoftBank Vision Fund had widened 70 percent to a record $32 billion from a year ago. In another
divestiture of assets, SoftBank Group also sold the stake in Fortress Investment Group to
Mubadala and Fortress' management. SoftBank Group's Arm filed for an IPO on 21 August 2023 on the Nasdaq. A few days earlier, SoftBank bought back the 25% stake from Vision Fund for around $16 billion, valuing Arm at over $64 billion. Arm went public on 14 September 2023 raising $4.87 billion at a $54.5 billion valuation, with SoftBank continuing to own 90.6% of the company following the offering. In December 2023, telecommunication and networking company SoftBank Corp, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp, paid $513 million for a controlling stake in Irish technology company Cubic Telecom, in a deal that will net the company’s founders and its private backers a multimillion-euro payout. In May 2024, Softbank launched a joint venture with healthcare technology company
Tempus AI. The aim of the venture was to provide precision medical services in Japan by utilising AI. On 27 June 2024, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank has invested in the AI search startup Perplexity AI, valuing the company at $3 billion. Perplexity AI, known for its advanced artificial intelligence technology, aims to revolutionize online search experiences. This investment aligns with SoftBank's ongoing strategy to support innovative AI companies, highlighting Perplexity AI's potential in the tech industry. The funding is expected to accelerate the startup's growth and development, further enhancing its AI capabilities and market reach. In December 2024, it was reported by CNBC that Softbank plans to invest $100 billion in the US over the next 4 years, with funding coming from various sources controlled by Softbank, including the
Vision Fund, capital projects or chipmaker
Arm Holdings. The investment is said to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure. In January 2025, SoftBank Group,
Oracle Corporation,
MGX,
OpenAI, and other partners established
The Stargate Project as a cooperative venture aimed at building AI infrastructure in the US. With an estimated $500 billion in investment, the program seeks to generate 100,000 new jobs in the US by 2029. In February 2025, SoftBank announced a joint venture with OpenAI called SB OpenAI Japan which would develop "Advanced Enterprise AI" called "Crystal Intelligence." SoftBank would spend $3 billion annually to deploy OpenAI solutions across SoftBank companies. OpenAI and SoftBank also agreed to establish a joint venture with 50:50 ownership called SB OpenAI Japan which would "serve as a springboard for introducing AI agents tailored to the unique needs of Japanese enterprises." In March 2025, SoftBank entered into an agreement to acquire
Ampere Computing, a company that produces energy-efficient and high-performance processors meant to enable next-generation cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). This was a $6.5 billion transaction meant to be closed in the latter half of 2025. On April 23, 2025, Cantor Equity Partners, a
SPAC announced a merger with Twenty One (XXI), a bitcoin acquisition company. SoftBank will own a 25% stake in the business led by stablecoin issuer
Tether and bitcoin exchange
Bitfinex. XXI's stated mission is "to accumulate Bitcoin and grow ownership per share." The newly formed company is targeting to go public with 42,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet contributed by its investors. In October 2025, SoftBank Group announced an agreement to acquire the
ABB Robotics division from the Swiss industrial technology company ABB for an enterprise value of US$5.375 billion, replacing ABB’s earlier plan to spin off the unit. The transaction is expected to close in mid-to-late 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. This was after liquidating its complete stake in Nvidia worth $5.8 billion, and redirecting capital towards OpenAI instead. On December 29th, 2025, SoftBank Group announced an agreement to acquire U.S.-based digital infrastructure investment firm
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4 billion. The deal, which would take DigitalBridge private, reflects SoftBank’s continued expansion into artificial intelligence–related infrastructure, including data centers, fiber networks, and wireless assets. DigitalBridge is expected to continue operating as an independent investment platform following the completion of the acquisition, which remains subject to regulatory approvals. In February 2026, SoftBank Group swings profit after it invested more than US$30 billion in OpenAI, accumulating an 11 per cent stake as at December. It had also been in talks to invest as much as US$30 billion more in a round that would value the startup at about US$750 billion to US$830 billion. In March 2026, PayPay which is backed by SoftBank Group priced its U.S. unitial public offering at $16 per share, below its targeted price range due to the U.S.-Isreali war with Iran. == Institutional ownership ==