Even flogging Arm and much of its eponymous Japanese operator isn’t enough to cover SoftBank’s speculative positions, it seems.
So the latest SoftBank Group (SBG) holding to be added to the great corporate fire sale is value-added reseller for the telecoms sector, Brightstar. Founded by current SBG COO Marcelo Claure, the majority of Brightstar was acquired by SoftBank back in 2014.
The thinking behind the move at the time was to help out Softbank Japan and Sprint (which Claure was put in charge of). But since SoftBank has done such a good job of selling off its stakes in those, Brightstar apparently became disposable too.
“Since I founded Brightstar over 20 years ago, the company has grown tremendously and become a leader of end-to-end device lifecycle solutions,” said Claure. “I am incredibly proud of what Brightstar has accomplished over the years and excited for its future. SBG looks forward to partnering with BCP as Brightstar enters into its next phase of growth.”
In an amazing coincidence, the new owner is a private equity group called Brightstar Capital Partners. While it will cease to be a part of SBG, the group will remain a 25% owner. The price of the acquisition wasn’t disclosed, but the cash will just be chucked into the ‘SBG moody investment’ slush fund anyway.