SoftBank CEO Fails to Reassure Investors Over ARM Takeover

According to the Financial Times, SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son attempted to reassure its investors that the company will have effectively no debt following the ARM buyout. The money for the acquisition was gained through selling shares in other companies and Son further attempted to reassure the company's shareholders by saying the accumulative debt of all of SoftBank's subsidiaries equalled ¥7.1 trillion, but their overall asset value was ¥9.1tn. This apparently means they have no debt but given how SoftBank has handled its money previously there are many doubts about this and the company's shareholders remain unconvinced. Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, stated that there was no guarantee that SoftBank's investments would always turn a profit in the future and dismissed Son's arguments as "perilous." Mr Akino also expressed uncertainty as to whether Sprint's (another company acquired by SoftBank) would continue to turn a profit. On 19th July, Herman Hausser brought up that ARM's debt could mean that ARM's money would be used to pay off some of SoftBank's debt rather than being invested in new technology. As of this point, SoftBank's shareholders still remain unconvinced and are still highly sceptical of the deal. Here's hoping that ARM's shareholders feel the same way and block the deal!