SoftBank

Infobox_Company
company_name = SoftBank Corp.
ソフトバンク株式会社
company_
company_type = Public KK (tyo|9984)
foundation = Flagicon|Japan Tokyo, Japan (1981)
location = Flagicon|Japan Tokyo, Japan
industry = Telecommunications
Internet
key_people = Masayoshi Son (孫正義), Founder, President & CEO
Yoshitaka Kitao, Director
Ken Miyauchi, Director
Kazuhiko Kasai, Director
Masahiro Inoue, Director
Ronald Fisher, Director
Jun Murai, Director
Tadashi Yanai, Director
Mitsuo Sano, Full-time Corporate Auditor
revenue = profit ¥ 2,776,169 million JPY (FY 2007)
net_income = profit ¥ 108,625 million JPY (FY 2007)
subsid = SoftBank Mobile
Softbank Telecom
Yahoo! Japan (~40%)
Softbank BB
homepage = [http://www.softbank.co.jp/english/ www.softbank.co.jp] Nihongo|SoftBank Corp.|ソフトバンク株式会社|Sofutobanku Kabushiki-gaisha is a Japanese telecommunications and media corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses.

SoftBank was established in Tokyo, Japan on September 3, 1981, and had a market capitalisation of approximately US$32.8 billion at 28 February 2006.

SoftBank's corporate profile includes various other companies such as Japanese broadband company Cable & Wireless IDC, cable company BB-Serve, and gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment. Additionally, it has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo!, E-Trade and Morningstar.

SoftBank is the official carrier of the iPhone 3G for Japan. [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/04/business/AS-FIN-COM-Japan-iPhones.php SoftBank reaches deal with Apple to sell iPhone handsets in Japan this year] , International Herald Tribune.]

Timeline

* January 28, 2005 - SoftBank becomes the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball team.
* March 17, 2006 - SoftBank announces its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japan's $78 billion mobile market.
* Early April, 2006 - Softbank completed the purchase of 23% of Betfair, an Internet betting exchange.
*October 1, 2006 - Vodafone Japan changes its corporate name, mobile phone brand name, and its mobile phone domain name to SoftBank Mobile, SoftBank, and [mb.softbank.jp] respectively. [ [http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0607/13/news050.html ITmedia +D モバイル：ボーダフォン、メールのドメイン名も「ソフトバンク」へ──10月1日から ] ]
*January 28,2008 - It was announced that SoftBank and Tiffany & Co. collaborated in making a limited 10 model-only cellphone. This cellphone contains more than 400 platinum diamond, totalling more than 20 karat. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen. [citeweb |url=http://mainichi.jp/enta/geinou/news/20080129spn00m200016000c.html |title=上戸彩：超高価ケータイ「ないしょにしてね」 |publisher=Sports Nippon |accessdate=2008-01-29 |language=Japanese]
*June 4, 2008 - SoftBank Mobile announced partnership with Apple and will be bringing the iPhone (3G) to Japan later in 2008 [citeweb|url=http://bizplus.nikkei.co.jp/colm/nbonline.cfm?i=2008060600805cs&p=1|title=念願のiPhoneを獲得した舞台裏　ソフトバンク、トラウマ乗り越える|date=2008-06-06|accessdate=2008-06-07|language=Japanese]

References

* " [http://www.softbank.co.jp/en/irlibrary/annual_report/pdf/softbank_annual_report_2008_001.pdf SoftBank Annual Report 2008] "

External links

* [http://www.softbank.co.jp/en/index.html SoftBank Corporation]
* [http://www.axa-im-talents.com/index.cfm?pagepath=Entrepreneurs Masayoshi Son] AXA Talents (www.axa-im-talents.com) (August 1 2006)