SEOUL, Jun. 23 (Korea Bizwire) –Masayoshi Son, the chairman of SoftBank Group, reportedly promised a senior member of Japan’s ruling party that he would take responsibility for making Line Yahoo “Japanese infrastructure,” according to a report by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper on June 21. The report sheds light on behind-the-scenes discussions between Son and Akira [...]
SEOUL, July 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Yanolja, a leading South Korean travel platform operator, said Thursday it has received a 2 trillion-won (US$1.75 billion) investment from Softbank’s Vision Fund, the second-largest investment into a South Korean company after $3 billion for e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. Yanolja, which has been seeking to go public, plans to [...]
SEOUL, March 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading internet portal Naver Corp. and Japanese telecom giant Softbank Corp. have completed a merger of their subsidiaries to tap deeper into the Japanese market with a wide range of services, their joint venture said Monday. Japanese chat app operator LINE, affiliated with Naver, and Softbank’s internet [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s biggest carmaker by sales, is in talks with Softbank Group Corp. to acquire a U.S.-based robotics company for US$1 billion, news reports said Tuesday, as it increases investments in future mobility solutions. Hyundai Motor is mulling acquiring a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, and [...]
SAN FRANCISCO, Jul. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — VANTIQ, the company that powers the real-time business, today announced a three-pronged strategic partnership with SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) encompassing the following components: SoftBank and VANTIQ will jointly integrate their existing and future technologies to address rapidly growing market opportunities for real-time systems involving IoT and AI. The combined [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — In a meeting with President Moon Jae-in, SoftBank Group Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son on Thursday stressed the need for South Korea to invest aggressively into the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Moon had a 90-minute meeting with Son at the presidential compound, 50 minutes longer [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Japanese software giant Softbank Group Corp.’s chairman, Masayoshi Son, a third-generation Korean-Japanese most widely known by his Korean name “Son Jeong-ui” here, has reportedly decided to invest US$2 billion in Coupang, leaving experts seeking an explanation as to Son’s great interest in the Korean e-commerce website. Meanwhile, other competing [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Coupang said Wednesday it has attracted US$2 billion from Japan’s Softbank Group Corp., a move that could give a boost to South Korea’s top e-commerce company mired in mounting losses in recent years. The South Korean retailer said it will use investments from Softbank Vision Fund in innovating its [...]
PALO ALTO, Calif., Jul. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Light, the leader in advanced computational imaging, today announced a Series D funding round of $121 million, led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. The renowned Leica Camera AG also participated in the financing. Light’s groundbreaking imaging platform enables machines to see like humans do, using sophisticated algorithms [...]
BEIJING, Jul. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), SB Drive, a subsidiary of Softbank dedicated to self-driving technology research, and King Long, a leading commercial vehicle manufacturer in China, today announced a strategic partnership to jointly develop and deploy a version of the Apolong self-driving mini bus for the Japanese market. Under the agreement, [...]