While SoftBank already has a stake in the mobile market, with the purchase of ARM the company also sees a future in the Internet of Things, so it will be interesting to see what happens next.
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The deal is the biggest takeover of a British company since the country last month made a decision to leave the European Union and comes after the pound fell against the Japanese yen.
The man who helped spin ARM Holdings out from Acorn Computers in 1990 also said the technology firm had sold 15 billion microchips in 2015, which was more than U.S. rival Intel had sold in its entire history. A record 14.8 billion chips powered by ARM technology were shipped in 2015, accounting for 32 percent of the global market.
Sprint shares have risen more than 30% this year on hopes cash from the stake sales would be spent on turning around the mobiles firm.
SoftBank has invested in a number of media and technology companies, including Internet retailer Snapdeal in India and ride-hailing app company Didi Chuxing in China.
And, he said: “SoftBank was absolutely clear that they don’t want to change what we do”.
“ARM will be an excellent strategic fit within the SoftBank group as we invest to capture the very significant opportunities provided by the “Internet of Things”,” said Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank.
He added that officials in Britain with whom he spoke are receptive to the deal.
Chancellor Philip Hammond reacts to this news by saying that this is not a loss for the United Kingdom, on the contrary, it shows that United Kingdom is still open for business with worldwide investors: “Britain is open for business – and open to foreign investment”.
As part of the deal, ARM Holdings will keep its headquarters in Cambridge while efforts will be made to grow ARM’s workforce outside of the UK. This acquisition will have SoftBank acquiring ARM, making ARM a “wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank”.
Mr. Son said Monday that he decided to make the ARM purchase partly because he is confident about turning around Sprint.
ARM founder Hermann Hauser called the deal “sad”, and was caused by Brexit.
“Arm is the proudest achievement of my life”, he said today.
Instead, Son appears to have leapt on the opportunity to buy ARM at a time when Britain was convulsed by the political and financial fall-out from the vote to leave the European Union, which prompted sterling’s fall to a 31-year low against the dollar.
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The deal discussions started as a result of an approach from SoftBank, and ARM didn’t run an auction process, two people said.
