I'm wondering if those Japan Based Americans who are managing mutual Funds in Japan are already heavily invested in Softbank. As the Barron's Interview indicated, they are positive on Softbank but less than enthusiastic about the Pasona IPO scheduled for June.
For the record, a couple of news items from Nikkei Net:
Issued: May 31 ,1999
FINANCIAL PLANNING OFFERED VIA INTERNET
DirectAdvice.com Inc., a U.S. start-up with funding from Softbank Corp., the Japanese leader in providing venture capital to Internet companies, has begun offering personalized, comprehensive financial-planning services to individuals via the Internet.
DirectAdvice has developed software to create investment plans based on personal information submitted via the company's World Wide Web site. By making its services available over the Internet, it has been able to cut its fees to $75 a year, less than 10% those charged by conventional investment-counseling companies.
DirectAdvice also plans to exploit the liberalization of Japan's financial industry and form a joint venture with Softbank to offer investment-counseling services as early as this year.
Sales rights acquired
Softbank Corp. has acquired exclusive sales rights in Japan to World Wide Web browser customization software developed by South Korean company C.C.R. Inc. The company's X2Web program can be used to custom-design a browser's tool bar and outside frame.
Large commercial users are to be charged 3 million yen ($24,800) for X2Web, while midsize Web sites are to pay 600,000 yen.
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