SoftBank Group Corp. history, profile and corporate video
SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese conglomerate holding company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded as SOFTBANK Corp. on September 3, 1981, by Masayoshi Son.
Founded originally as a software distributor, SoftBank became a multinational conglomerate company providing mobile communications and fixed-line telecommunication services through its group companies.
The Group operates through the following segments: Mobile Communications, Internet, Energy, Robot, and Business.
Mobile Communications
The Mobile Communications segment provides mobile communications services, mobile devices, accessories, apps, and other IT products.
Internet
The Internet segment covers services such as Wireless (through SoftBank Air) and Optic Fiber (through SoftBank Hikari).
Energy
The Energy segment provides electric power services.
Robot
The Robot segment develops and commercializes robotics solutions, and provides innovative applications relevant for fields like retail, tourism, healthcare, education, finance, and others.
Business
The Business segment offers Smartphones, Mobile & Tablet Devices, Network & VPN Services, Cloud Services, Voice Call & Landline Telephone Services, AI/Machine Learning, IOT, Digital Marketing Services, Security Services, Datacenter Services, 5G, RPA, Robot, services for local governments, and other services (for specific industries and fields, such as medical practice, video transmission, automobile industry, etc.).
SoftBank Group Corp. has more than 100 consolidated subsidiaries and associates. Some of the most important ones are: AGOOP Corp., BB Backbone Corporation, BB Satellite Corp., BBSS Corporation, conect.plus Corp., DiDi Mobility Japan Corp., hugmo Co., Ltd., IDC Frontier Inc., Japan Computer Vision Corp., One Tap BUY Co., Ltd., PayPay Corporation, SB C&S Corp., SB Cloud Corp., SB Engineering Corp., SB Technology Corp., Wireless City Planning Inc., and many more.
With over 74 000 employees, SoftBank is considered one of the largest publicly-traded companies in Japan and one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.
SoftBank’s Timeline
In 1981, SoftBank Corp. (currently SoftBank Group Corp.) was established.
In 1984, the former JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. was founded.
In 1986, Railway Telecommunication CO., Ltd. was established.
In 1989, Railway Telecommunication CO., Ltd. merged with the former JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. and changed the company name to JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD.
In 1991, Tokyo Digital Phone Co., Ltd. was established. (After this, two companies of Digital Phone Group and six companies of Digital TU-KA Group were established.)
In 1998, JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. established IMT-2000 Planning Co., Ltd.
In 1999, All companies of Digital Phone Group and Digital TU-KA Group changed the company name to J-Phone.
In 2000, IMT-2000 Planning Co., Ltd. changed the company name to J-Phone Communications Co., Ltd., and became a holding company of J-Phone Group.
In 2001, J-Phone Communications Co., Ltd. merged with J-Phone East Co., Ltd., J-Phone Central Co., Ltd., and J-Phone West Co., Ltd. and became J-Phone Co., Ltd. Also in that year, J-Phone Group became an affiliate of Vodafone Group Plc (UK).
In 2002, JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. changed the name to JAPAN TELECOM HOLDINGS CO., Ltd. and became a holding company.
In October 2003, J-Phone Co., Ltd. changed company name to Vodafone K.K.
In December 2003, JAPAN TELECOM HOLDINGS CO., Ltd. changed the name to Vodafone Holdings K.K.
In July 2004, JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. joined the SoftBank Group.
In October 2004, Vodafone Holdings K.K. and (former) Vodafone K.K. merged and changed the company name to Vodafone K.K.
In April 2006, Vodafone K.K. became an affiliate of the SoftBank Group.
In October 2006, Vodafone K.K. changed the company name to SoftBank Mobile Corp. (currently SoftBank Corp.) and changed the brand name to SoftBank. After this, JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. changed its name to SoftBank Telecom Corp.
In April 2015, SoftBank BB Corp., SoftBank Telecom Corp. and Ymobile Corporation merged into SoftBank Mobile Corp.
In June 2015, SoftBank Mobile Corp. was renamed SoftBank Corp.
Also in 2015, SoftBank Corp. changed its company name to SoftBank Group Corp. to clearly identify its role as a holding company.
In 2016, it cquired UK-based ARM Holdings as a subsidiary.
In 2017, it acquired U.S.-based Fortress Investment Group LLC.
In 2018, SoftBank Corp. was listed on the First Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In 2020, the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile US was completed. In June, SoftBank Group Corp. divested a portion of its shares in the new combined company T-Mobile.
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org, and www.softbank.jp/en.
**Video published on youtube.com by “ColdFusion“.
***Video published on YouTube by “CompaniesHistory.com“.
