Santosh:
I just found out that Softbank is a Japanese/Korean company. I would like to have their balance sheet to look at their debt. A lot of Korean and Japanese firms have borrowed heavily to bet on technological firms and are now defaulting; this has caused the banking mess in both Japan and Korea. If Softbank is one of those heavily indebted firms, it may be forced to liquidate most of its 33% YHOO holdings. Watch out there may be a steep fall, if indeed Softbank has borrowed heavily. It may have planned for receiving income (?) from Yahoo to pay off the loans, but it may have to sell Yahoo stock, IMHO.
Sankar
From YHOO Q10:
NOTE 8 - YAHOO! KOREA
During August 1997, the Company signed a joint venture agreement with SOFTBANK, a holder of approximately 33% of the Company's Common Stock at September 30, 1997, and other SOFTBANK affiliate companies whereby Yahoo! Korea was formed to develop and operate a version of the YAHOO! Internet Guide in the native Korean language. The parties have invested a total of $1,000,000 in proportion to their respective equity interests. The Company has a majority share of approximately 60% in the joint venture, and therefore, has consolidated the financial results, which were insignificant during the quarter.
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