MADRID, 30 Aug. (Portaltic/EP) -
Telecommunications company SoftBank will sell most of its 4 percent stake in Yahoo!, a move that will help Japan get rid of its debt. SoftBank will focus for the time being on the revenue it generates from the rights to the iPhone and iPad in Japan.
SoftBank announced Friday that it will divest nearly all of its stake in Yahoo!. This move will allow to repay a loan to Citibank valued at 1,114 million dollars (about 774 million euros). The Japanese telco acquired Yahoo!'s shares in 1995, when the California-based Internet company was still in maturity.
The difference between the price then paid for that shareholding package and the value of the shares as resolved by the Citibank loan, would translate into a profit of 990 million dollars (687 million euros) for the first fiscal quarter of 2012, ended in March.
Meanwhile, while SoftBank's debt burden was a cause for concern for investors in 2004, the company's coffers were quickly filled four years later after acquiring the rights to sell the iPhone and iPad in Japan.
This growth dynamic, motivated by the popularity of apple products, has allowed SoftBank to begin to recover from the accumulated debt.
Following the sale of a majority stake in Yahoo!, Softbank will retain 0.002 percent of the Internet company, according to Business Insider. In addition, it will keep 42 percent of Yahoo! Japan, which functions as a standalone unit. Yahoo!, meanwhile, owns 35 percent of this division.
The news is surprising, since last week SoftBank announced the launch of a new mobile terminal in partnership with Yahoo!. The Sharp AQUOS 009SH, with Android 2.3 operating system, marked the entry of the Californian company into the mobile phone market.
The news was confirmed by SoftBank itself on its website, at which point it would sell the first Yahoo! Phone, for the moment exclusively for the Japanese market.
Related links:
- The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576532353064626730.html)
- Business Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-dumps-its-4-stake-in-yahoo-2011-8)
Authors: PortalTIC.es / Companies
