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The SOFTBANK Group has already integrated the 4th largest telecommunications carrier in the US industry, "Sprint", which it acquired several years ago, with the 3rd largest telecommunications carrier, "T-Mobile", and transferred the management rights to T-Mobile. It has agreed to hand over to its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, and plans to list domestic telecommunications carrier SoftBank Corp. (hereinafter referred to as SBKK). It is likely that the Group will undergo a major change from its core business structure.
At the beginning of the financial results briefing, an explanation was given of the financial results for the fiscal year ended March 2018. Sales were 9,158.7 billion yen (up 3%), operating profit was 1,303.8 billion yen (up 27%), and net profit was 1,039.0 billion yen (down 27%). Regarding the decrease in net income, Mr. Son said, "In the previous fiscal year, the gain on the sale of shares was included, and in addition, there was a loss on derivatives of Alibaba shares that would be returned in the future, which would only occur suddenly. 226% increase," he said, excluding the part related to the holdings.
SoftBank Group's Financial StatementMr. Son touched on the strategy of the SoftBank Group, saying, "Last year we announced that we would promote the idea of a group strategy. I am often asked what it is, but in other words, It will become a strategic holding company," he said, explaining that the SoftBank Group will change its shape in the future. According to Mr. Son, the Group Strategy is a new way of working for a company, in which affiliated companies (who do not necessarily have management rights) are connected to each other and create synergies between them. It means that it is a form of increasing the value of
"Many companies stop growing after 30 years of founding. I decided to take this strategy because I wanted to make the SoftBank Group a company that will last 300 years in the new era of the information revolution." Mr. Son said that it is a necessary strategy for the SoftBank Group to continue to grow in the future.
Explanatory material for group strategies, a new strategy for the SoftBank GroupOriginally, the SoftBank Group was positioned as the holding company of the operating company SBKK, and it was said that SBKK would be well known as a telecommunications carrier. was in shape.
However, the form is gradually changing, and SBKK decided to aim for listing as a business company, saying, "From now on, we will have our own CEO and operate as an independent company," (Mr. Son). , the core company of the group will change its character to one of the group companies, although it is still one of the core companies. It is highly likely that Yahoo! Japan will be positioned in the same way as Yahoo! Japan, which is now another core company of the SoftBank Group.
Explanation of SBKK Explanation of Yahoo! Japan
And the other day, the SoftBank Group announced a few days ago that it would practically let go of not only SBKK but another telecommunications carrier under its umbrella. The SoftBank Group will merge Sprint, the fourth largest mobile phone carrier in the United States, with T-Mobile, the third largest mobile phone carrier, and transfer management rights to T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom. I announced it. With this merger, SoftBank Group will retain its 27.4% stake, but will transfer control to Deutsche Telekom, which holds a 41.7% stake, making it the second largest shareholder. Deutsche Telekom will continue to take the lead, although it will continue to dispatch executives.
Shareholding ratio of Sprint/T-Mobile merged company At that time, Deutsche Telekom's condition was to take control of the company's management. The fact that it was established this time means that the SoftBank Group handed it over.Mr. Son said, "It's a temporary shame to let go of it even though I said that I should maintain the management right. "I made the decision to take a long-term view and relinquish control of the combined Sprint/T-Mobile company."
Advantages of merging two companiesWhen asked about the change in his mind between when he broke off the deal last year and when he decided to merge even if management rights were handed over this time, Mr. Son said, "In a nutshell. , Group Strategy, and Vision Fund began to make excellent start-ups, and the Group Strategy became clearer, and interest shifted to Group Strategy.The synergies that can be obtained by merging Sprint and T-Mobile are great, and the results are great. I understood that it was okay to make small compromises in between,” said Mr. Son, whose own interests have shifted from the telecoms business to a new company with a larger cluster strategy, which led to the loss of control of Sprint. However, he explained that it was the biggest reason for accepting the merger.
Slide explaining Sprint and T-Mobile merger I'm most interested in it," Son explained, adding that he will continue to be involved in the information revolution through investments in businesses that have such businesses.Arm Ships 21.3 Billion Units, Up 20%A few new companies were introduced, but Arm emerged as the frontrunner. Arm is a company that provides semiconductor design data to semiconductor manufacturers acquired by the SoftBank Group in 2016. Designs and IP (intellectual property rights) such as CPUs and GPUs provided by Arm are used by many semiconductor manufacturers. Smartphones are also mostly based on Arm design/IP.
Mr. Son said, ``Almost 100% of the things that are indispensable like the smartphones in your pocket are Arm-based.Is there any other daily necessities that are almost 100%? ……The number of units shipped in fiscal 2017 increased by 20% to 21.3 billion units, and since the world population is 7 billion, it is calculated that one person in the world bought 3. Such companies are under the SoftBank Group.” He emphasized that Arm is becoming an important business for SoftBank.
Regarding the Arm businessMr. Son said, "In the future, iSIM, which will be a SIM embedded in Arm's SoC, will be implemented. As a result, the SIM will be embedded in the Arm chip, which already has an 80% to 90% share of the IoT market. Furthermore, Project Trillium, started by Arm, makes it possible to implement machine learning functions in IoT devices, and IoT will automatically become smarter and smarter in the future.” He said that Arm has made significant investments for the times and will continue to do so, further developing the Arm ecosystem.
Future of ArmIn addition, he explained that the SoftBank Group is investing in ride sharing such as Uber, saying, "From now on, ride sharing will grow rapidly and change the nature of the automobile industry. Many companies SoftBank has invested in , Uber, DiDi, etc., and has already grown into a semi-public transportation system, with more than 35 million rides per day,” he said, investing in ride sharing such as Uber. He explained that doing so will become a strength of the SoftBank Group in the near future.
Other Mr. Son's slidesFinally, Mr. Son said, "A group strategy is an integrated group. We do not unify brands, do not stick to a 51% shareholding ratio, and gather only the number one companies in the world. By doing so, each company will generate synergies.The SoftBank Group is the only group in the world that is intentionally doing this as an organizational theory, and it can be said that we invented it.This is correct. History is the only thing that can prove whether it is true or not, and I believe that this model is correct and will continue to promote it.” made a strong decision.
For the automotive industry, the SOFTBANK Group is becoming a presence that cannot be ignored in terms of Arm-based semiconductors that are essential for autonomous driving and ride-sharing companies like Uber. The SOFTBANK Group is about to transform itself from a telecommunications company that operates domestically only in Japan and the United States to a global conglomerate represented by Arm and Uber. Whether it succeeds or not depends on Mr. Son's ability, but there is no doubt that he will become a presence that the automobile industry cannot ignore.
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