SoftBank was established in Tokyo, Japan on September 3, 1981, and had a market capitalisation of approximately US$32.8 billion at 28 February 2006.

SoftBank's corporate profile includes various other companies such as Japanese broadband company Cable & Wireless IDC, cable company BB-Serve, and gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment. Additionally, it has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo!, E-Trade and Morningstar. SBI Group is a Japanese financial services company that began in 1999 as a branch of SoftBank.

SoftBank is the official carrier of the iPhone 3G for Japan.SoftBank reaches deal with Apple to sell iPhone handsets in Japan this year, International Herald Tribune.

Timeline

• January 28, 2005 - SoftBank becomes the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball team.
• March 17, 2006 - SoftBank announces its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japan's $78 billion mobile market.
• Early April, 2006 - Softbank completed the purchase of 23% of Betfair, an Internet betting exchange.
• October 1, 2006 - Vodafone Japan changes its corporate name, mobile phone brand name, and its mobile phone domain name to SoftBank Mobile, SoftBank, and 1 respectively.
• January 28,2008 - It was announced that SoftBank and Tiffany & Co. collaborated in making a limited 10 model-only cellphone. This cellphone contains more than 400 platinum diamond, totalling more than 20 karat. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen.
• June 4, 2008 - SoftBank Mobile announced partnership with Apple and will be bringing the iPhone (3G) to Japan later in 2008

References

• SoftBank Annual Report 2008

External links

• SoftBank Corporation
• Masayoshi Son AXA Talents (www.axa-im-talents.com) (August 1 2006)