Meet the Secretive Japanese Billionaire at Sprint Who Wants to Control Your Phone and Cable Bills
Haven't heard of this Japanese billionaire? We're not surprised.
This secretive Japanese billionaire wants to control your phone and cable bills. Masayoshi Son is the founder and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. (SFTBY) and is the richest man in Japan with an estimated net worth of $20.5 billion. He now wants to purchase Charter Communications (CHTR) - Get Report or form a deal with T-Mobile (TMUS) - Get Report .
Son said Monday during the company's first quarter earnings call that he "expects to be able to decide on an integration partner for Sprint in the near future."
This comes after Bloomberg reported earlier on Monday that Sprint is said to have resumed preliminary talks about a merger with Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile US Inc., Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, as Sprint attempts to deal with increased competition in the U.S. wireless market.
Softbank's Sprint reportedly started talks after its exclusive negotiating period with Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) - Get Report and Charter Communications expired at the end of July, the sources said.
Softbank took control of Sprint in 2013. Softbank shares gained in afternoon trading in Tokyo Monday, after it unveiled better-than-expected earnings for the three months ended in June.
Softbank reported operating profit of ¥479.3 billion ($4.3 billion) for the first quarter, beating analysts projection of ¥323.7 billion. Sales came in at ¥2.19 trillion.
Sprint was one of the company's bright spots, with revenue up 4% to ¥910 billion in the first quarter.
Son said he is also interested in investing in Uber or Lyft to gain a share in the U.S. ride-sharing market.
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