SoftBank to Sell T-Mobile Shares Worth 25 Trillion Won

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Japan's SoftBank Group is selling $21 billion (approximately 25.51 trillion KRW) worth of shares in the U.S. telecommunications company T-Mobile.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 23rd, SoftBank announced it will sell 198 million shares of T-Mobile. This represents about 65% of the approximately 300 million T-Mobile shares held by SoftBank.

This is part of SoftBank's previously announced plan to repurchase its own shares and reduce debt through asset sales worth 4.5 trillion yen, in response to consecutive investment failures.

Of the shares SoftBank is disposing of this time, 134 million shares are expected to be sold to the public.

In April, SoftBank held a 24% stake (about 300 million shares) in T-Mobile following the merger of its subsidiary Sprint and T-Mobile. With this sale, SoftBank's stake in T-Mobile is expected to decrease from 24% to the 8% range.

Led by Chairman Masayoshi Son, SoftBank has faced management difficulties after its $100 billion Vision Fund invested in the shared office company WeWork, which failed its initial public offering (IPO) last year. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused Vision Fund losses to reach 1.9 trillion yen, worsening the management crisis.

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