On-line savvy Softbank eyeing Internet firms
TOKYO, June 22 (Reuters) - Japan's on-line savvy Softbank Corp expects to see strong growth driven by its Internet-related group companies, President Masayoshi Son told an annual shareholders' meeting on Tuesday.
The growth strategy is based on the agility and independence of group firms under its new holding company structure, Son said.
He said it was desirable to have 20 percent to 35 percent stakes in group companies, noting such levels would allow affiliates to make management decisions independently.
The software maker, which has diversified into on-line trading and other areas of electronic commerce, continues to seek new business opportunities through investing in burgeoning Internet-related firms, he said.
''Softbank will become an 'Internet zaibatsu','' Son said, referring to Japan's large pre-war conglomerates.
He said Softbank sought, like those empires, to become a leading conglomerate covering virtually all sectors but Softbank would aim to achieve the goal through the use of the Internet.
In March, Softbank said it would form a joint venture with Microsoft Corp of the United States and Yahoo Japan Corp to set up an on-line service in Japan for automobile sales.
The charismatic entrepreneur spoke to stockholders one day after he was featured on the cover of an issue of U.S. magazine Forbes ranking the world's richest people. Son, whose worth was estimated at $6.4 billion, was ranked as Japan's third-richest person.
On plans to set up a Japanese version of the U.S. National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (Nasdaq) computerised system of price quotations by the end of next year, he said: ''We will create the world's most advanced electronic trade market.''
Son also said his company and the U.S. National Association of Securities Dealers would provide technological assistance for setting up a Tokyo junk bond market.
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has said he wants to launch a junk bond market in Tokyo for small corporate issuers by the end of the year.
|
