Tuesday 28 October 2014

Gung ho over e-tail, SoftBank invests $627 mn in Snapdeal: All you need to know

Gung ho over e-tail, SoftBank invests $627 mn in Snapdeal: All you need to know

Japan's SoftBank Corp said on Tuesday that it would invest $627 million in online retailer Snapdeal, marking the latest investment by the telecommunications company as it expands aggressively overseas.
SoftBank, which bought No 3 U.S. mobile carrier Sprint Corp last year for $21.6 billion, said earlier this month it was taking a minority stake in Hollywood movie studio Legendary Entertainment for $250 million.

According to a press release from Snapdeal, with the latest round of investment SoftBank has now become the leading investor in the Indian etailer. Snapdeal has raised close to $1 Billion this calendar year, it said.
"These investments stand testimony to confidence displayed by investors in the company’s pure marketplace model and are in line with Snapdeal.com’s growth strategy and vision to create life changing experiences for 1 million businesses in India," the release said.
The telecom giant SoftBank yesterday pledged an investment of $10 billion (over Rs 60,000 crore) in India's IT and communications space. SoftBank's commitment is one of the biggest from a Japanese firm after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to that country.

"CEO of SoftBank and Japan's richest businessman Mr. Masayoshi Son met me today. He expressed great optimism in India's changed investment climate and in the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on his Facebook page.
Softbank is one of the major telecom and internet corporations of Japan and its Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son is the richest man in Japan. The company yesterday said it will look for opportunities in telecom space and the fast-growing e-commerce sector in India.
The proposed investment was committed in a meeting with Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an official statement said. Son is the richest man in Japan.

Son told Prasad that the visit of Prime Minister to Japan has created a climate of hope and optimism about greater economic cooperation between the two countries, it added.
With a market cap of $92 billion, SoftBank has operations in broadband, fixed line telecom, e-Commerce, finance, media and marketing. SoftBank already has made investments in Indian companies including InMobi and Hike. India-born Nikesh Arora, a former Google executive, is the Vice Chairman of SoftBank.

"He (Son) further expressed immense faith in the great eCommerce potential of India. He estimated it to become a $0.5 trillion business in the next 10 years," the statement said.
The Indian e-commerce company had earlier said that it sees the Indian etailing market growing to $5 trillion in the next few years.
In 2007, SoftBank had established a subsidiary in India called Japan Telecom India Private Limited.
Earlier this month, SoftBank Corporation signed an agreement to invest $250 million in media company Legendary Entertainment.

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