SoftBank Officially Denies Mentioning Coupang's Entry into Japan

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] SoftBank Group officially denied reports that Chairman Masayoshi Son (Japanese name: Son Masayoshi) is discussing the introduction of Coupang's service in Japan.

On the 30th, SoftBank stated on its website, "We talked about providing a service similar to Coupang in Japan," adding, "We did not mention Coupang's entry into Japan."

Earlier, major foreign media reported that Chairman Son was in discussions with Coupang and SoftBank's subsidiary Z Holdings to introduce Coupang's service to Japan.

Z Holdings is an intermediate holding company launched on the 1st to integrate Naver's Japanese subsidiary LINE and SoftBank's Yahoo Japan.

Following this news, Coupang's stock price surged 5.7% to $46.01 on the New York Stock Exchange that day. This is the first time since its NYSE listing that the stock rose more than 5%.

Meanwhile, Coupang was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on the 11th. Chairman Son invested $1 billion in 2015 and $2 billion in 2018 in Coupang through SoftBank Group's Vision Fund. Currently, Chairman Son is the largest investor, holding a 33.1% stake in Coupang.

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