SoftBank Group Corp. (ソフトバンクグループ株式会社, SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki-gaisha)[3] is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management.[4] The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vision Fund, the world’s largest technology-focused venture capital fund, with over $100 billion in capital. Fund investors include sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.[5][6][7]
The company is known for the leadership of its controversial[8][9][10][11] founder and largest shareholder Masayoshi Son.[12] It operates in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, information technology, finance, media and marketing, and other areas. SoftBank Corporation, its spun-out affiliate and former flagship business, is the third-largest wireless carrier in Japan, with 45.621 million subscribers as of March 2021.[13]
SoftBank was ranked in the 2017 Forbes Global 2000 list as the 36th largest public company in the world[14] and the second-largest publicly traded company in Japan after Toyota.[15]
The logo of SoftBank is based on the flag of the Kaientai, a naval trading company founded in 1865, near the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, by Sakamoto Ryōma.[16]
Although SoftBank does not affiliate itself to any traditional keiretsu, it has close ties with Mizuho Financial Group, its primary lender.[17]