The deal has been two years in the making,
and the latest development appears to clear
nearly all the hurdles. The agreement already
has U.S. regulatory approval and the go-ahead
from public utility commissions. T-Mobile now
expects to close the deal as early as April 1.
The good news sent SoftBank shares soaring in
Tokyo trading.
SoftBank, which includes in its group a
successful Japanese mobile carrier, reported
quarterly sales edged down 3% to 2.44 trillion
yen ($22 billion).
Losses at SoftBank’s investment fund called the
Vision Fund also hurt results , although such
losses have been decreasing.
The reputation of the Vision Fund, which
was started mostly with Saudi money, suffered
in 2018, after the killing of Saudi journalist
Jamal Khashoggi. The fund has been investing
in various companies, solar projects and
artificial intelligence.
Adding to the company’s challenges has been
SoftBank’s bailout of WeWork last year. That
invited scrutiny after WeWork, which bills itself
as both a technology and real-estate company,
canceled an initial public offering.
SoftBank brought in new leadership at WeWork
to try to engineer a turnaround. The company
says it’s banking on the huge potential of
workspace sharing around the world, and has
secured enough cash to move forward.
SoftBank has powerful companies under its
wing, including Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce,
retail and net conglomerate, Yahoo! Japan and
the British IOT company Arm.