Business

SoftBank's shares jump 7per cent on buyout debate report

SoftBank Group Corp shares jumped as much as 7per cent on Wednesday after Bloomberg News reported that the group was considering buying back shares to boost CEO Masayoshi Son's stake so he could squeeze out remaining investors.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo, Japan, July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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TOKYO -SoftBank Group Corp shares jumped as much as 7per cent on Wednesday after Bloomberg News reported that the group was considering buying back shares to boost CEO Masayoshi Son's stake so he could squeeze out remaining investors.

SoftBank's shares are seen as chronically undervalued by company executives, with debate around the benefits of a buyout intensifying as they plunged to lows in March.

Record share buybacks and a string of asset sales have driven a 180per cent share price gain since then, giving the group a market capitalization of around US$140 billion and raising the hurdle for a buyout.

SoftBank was not immediately reachable for comment.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Source: Reuters