Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Softbank Group Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bobkansas who wrote (3333)	1/17/2000 10:21:00 AM
From: manohar kanuri	Respond to of 6020

ft.com SOFTBANK: Internet company raises stake in South Korea By John Burton in Seoul Softbank, Japan's leading internet investment company, is increasing control over its South Korean operations despite a backlash against its growing influence in Asia's biggest internet market after Japan. Softbank said it would raise its stake in Softbank Korea, its local investment unit, to 80 per cent from 46 per cent by buying shares from South Korea's Naray Mobile Telecom and Posdata for $110m. As a result of the acquisition, Softbank also raised its stake to 30 per cent in Yahoo! Korea, the nation's leading internet portal with a 30 per cent market share. The move comes shortly after five leading Korean internet and technology companies said they were considering starting a $130m venture fund to stop promising internet companies falling under Softbank's control. Masayoshi Son, Softbank's founder, has said Softbank plans to invest $100m in Korean internet start-ups. One of the first projects was an online stock broker, set up last week in conjunction with LG Investment and Securities, the nation's biggest securities house. Softbank has a 40 per cent stake and LG 15 per cent. Although Mr Son is a Korean-Japanese, his plans have provoked nationalist anger because of Japan's harsh colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Daum Communications, a leading Korean-owned internet portal, has run newspaper advertisements saying it is ready to repel Softbank just as Koreans defeated Japanese invaders in the late 16th century. Korea's big conglomerates, or chaebol, also aim to protect the domestic internet market against Softbank and are discussing joint investments in online businesses. Samsung, Korea's biggest electronics group, last week said it was becoming the second largest shareholder in Serome Technology, which recently launched Dialpad, a free internet-based telephone service, in Korea with an estimated $90m investment. Serome plans to expand its Dialpad service to 10 foreign countries in an effort to copy the global expansion of Yahoo!, in which Softbank is a main investor. The expansion of online services in Korea comes as the number of local internet subscribers is expected to double to 18m this year, out of Korea's population of 45m, with revenues expected to climb to Won900bn ($786m) from Won410m last year. But the Samsung Economic Research Institute recently warned that Korean internet services still lack the management expertise of foreign rivals and have few core technologies to compete in the global market.

To: bobkansas who wrote (3333)	1/17/2000 12:19:00 PM
From: Edwin S. Fujinaka	Respond to of 6020

Clifford on VERT/SFTBF: URL: cbs.marketwatch.com Where there's a WiLL in Japan.... VerticalNet teams up with Softbank on Asian B2B By Bill Clifford, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 8:57 AM ET Jan 17, 2000 Listen to Internet Daily Internet Daily Europe New! Internet Daily In the business-to-consumer space in Japan, the Internet might help build a single brand for the completely different products and services of five completely different Japanese companies. The quintet, whose members hail from completely different industries, are willfully engaged in an unprecedented marketing project aimed at Japan's younger generation. A Japanese language Web site launched last August, www.willshop.com, now has information on products including: "WiLL Clear Mist," a spray to deodorize clothing, from Kao Corp. (KAOCY: news, msgs); "WiLL Smooth Beer," a new bevvy from Asahi Breweries Ltd.; "WiLL Tour," self-made package trips offered by Kinki Nippon Tourist; "WiLL PC," a personal computer made by Matsushita Electric (MC: news, msgs). Matsushita plans to offer "WiLL Fridge" and "WiLL Range," kitchen appliances for the younger set, in February. Toyota Motor's ADRs on the NYSE. And that's the essence of the marketing project: to capture the personal preferences and "will" expressed by more individualistic Japanese consumers in their 20s and 30s. See related story. This is a demographic group that the fifth participating company, Toyota Motor Co. (TM: news, msgs), has until now paid much less attention to than its core middle-aged salarymen customers. As of Monday, Toyota's WiLL Vi (pronounced vee-eye) passenger car can be found on the WiLL site and in showrooms around Japan. It will be interesting to see how many WiLLs will be sold. Going vertical with Softbank VerticalNet Inc. is teaming up with a unit of Softbank Corp. to build business-to-business communities in the budding world of Japanese e-commerce. A joint venture, owned 60 percent by Softbank Commerce and 40 percent by VerticalNet (VERT: news, msgs), will be set up in February. The company will be capitalized at 400 million yen ($3.8 million) for starters. "Announcing this initiative with Softbank is a big day for our company," said Mark Walsh, president and CEO of VerticalNet, who expects to launch localized B2B community services and editorial content for Japan later in the year. Japan's B2B e-commerce market is expected to have 19 trillion yen ($180 billion) in turnover this year and reach 68 trillion yen by 2003, Softbank Commerce said, citing government statistics. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong Kerry Properties Ltd. said one of its subsidiaries, Kerry Logistics, is teaming up with Citibank (C: news, msgs) to offer an e-commerce service that will allow suppliers of construction and electronics materials to sell directly to buyers and settle transactions online. Boomlet Hong Kong-based Boom.com, Asia's first online stockbroker, is trying to promote the ease of international investing with its "Five Free U.S. Trades" campaign. According to details on its Web site, boom.com, Boom.com usually charges $20 per trade for U.S. stocks, but it's waiving the fees on first five trades of stocks listed on the NYSE, Nasdaq and American stock exchanges for investors who open trading accounts before March 31. "We firmly believe in discounting regional and overseas stock trading," said CEO Mark B. Duff. Bill Clifford is CBS MarketWatch's bureau chief in Tokyo.