The Japanese conglomerate has a wide range of tech holdings, including a controlling interest in Sprint, its own mobile carrier business in Japan and investments in Alibaba, OlaCabs and Snapdeal.
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Speaking in the Commons for the first time since becoming PM, Mrs May said: “I have spoken to SoftBank directly”.
“By buying ARM, Softbank has a piece of the growth segments in the semiconductor business – IoT, smartphones, automotive and servers – because ARM’s IP is licensed by every major company in these markets”, he told the E-Commerce Times.
SoftBank pledged to embark on a major recruitment drive and hold on to ARM’s existing management team following its swoop for the Cambridge-based firm, which supplies technology for Apple’s iPhone.
Five years ago, Cambridge was home to at least three world-beating UK-owned technology firms, ARM, Autonomy and Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR).
We are downgrading ARM Holdings to a Market Perform rating because of the stock’s appreciation following the announcement of the company’s acquisition by SoftBank Group Corporation for more than $32 billion, which represents a more than 40% premium to the stock’s closing price on Friday, July 15.
Neil Campling, head of technology and media research at Northern Trust Capital Markets, said SoftBank made a bad job of explaining the deal and that its swoop on ARM looks opportunistic after just two weeks of talks.
At a press conference in London on Monday, SoftBank Group President Masayoshi Son stressed that it will be common in the future for all types of goods, including automobiles and home electronics, to be connected to the internet. Britain is open for business – and open to foreign investment. Softbank also makes the humanoid companion robot Pepper. He added that it is one of the most important acquisitions of SoftBank and expects ARM to be a “key pillar” to its growth strategy going forward. SoftBank will therefore pay a total of 23.6 billion pounds after deducting ARM’s net cash.
It was for this reason that the UK Chancellor Philip Hammond welcomed the deal saying that despite the vote to leave the EU, Britain “has lost none of its allure to worldwide investors”.
“The ARM deal doesn’t diminish the strategic value of a [Sprint-T-Mobile] deal in any way”, Chaplin said in a research note.
He added: “The concern of brain drain and ARM business moving from the United Kingdom must be considered in this equation based on its know-how and leadership in chip design”. We can buy ARM because not everyone can instantly see the clear synergy.
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SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said Monday that the ARM deal marked a “paradigm shift” at SoftBank and a bet on demand for internet connectivity across everyday devices such as automobiles and refrigerators.
