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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. Stone who wrote (8682)	10/1/1999 9:06:00 AM
From: Spytrdr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13953

Softbank Forms Holding Company to Control Internet Conglomerate Bloomberg News October 1, 1999, 12:30 a.m. PT Softbank Forms Holding Company to Control Internet Conglomerate Tokyo, Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Softbank Corp. transferred its software and hardware distribution business to a subsidiary, completing a planned transformation into a holding company whose earnings come entirely from its investments. The move by one of the world's biggest investors in Internet companies, whose U.S. holdings include Yahoo! Inc. and E*Trade Group Inc., comes six months after it spun off its publishing, finance and general-affairs divisions as wholly owned units. Softbank joins a handful of Japanese companies, including Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., that have formally reorganized themselves into holding companies, which were legalized this year under the government's ``Big Bang' financial reforms. Softbank's billionaire founder Masayoshi Son announced the plan in May, saying it will improve managerial efficiency and will allow the company eventually to take advantage of expected changes in Japanese tax laws. ``The idea is to speed up decision-making by devolving decisions to the operating companies,' said Hiromi Koyama, an analyst at Taiheiyo Securities Co. ``As a conglomerate gets bigger and bigger, it's really beyond management to keep on top of everything.' As of the second half of the Japanese fiscal year beginning today, Softbank's earnings will come entirely from dividends, interest payments and royalties from subsidiaries and affiliates. The parent company will consist of only 11 employees plus the board of directors, who will oversee a self-styled ``Internet conglomerate' whose worldwide subsidiaries and affiliates have a payroll of 6,800 people. Son has earned a reputation as one of Japan's managerial trailblazers since he built Softbank from a software distributor into one of the leading global financiers of online business. Holding companies were banned in Japan after World War II under anti-monopoly legislation adopted to dismantle the industrial combines that dominated the prewar economy. The Japanese government agreed in December 1997 to lift the restriction in the fiscal year beginning in April, but has yet to approve U.S.-style tax consolidation, the benefits of which include tax-free dividends for the parent and the ability to share operating losses. Each of Softbank's spun-off divisions under Softbank will act as holding companies for about 100 of its smaller affiliates, leaving the parent in direct control over larger investments such as Internet directory Yahoo! and U.S. publisher Ziff-Davis Inc.