Softbank to Sell Yahoo! Japan Shares
Posted on: Monday, 3 March 2003, 06:00 CST
Softbank to Sell Yahoo! Japan Shares
source: Associated Press Tech News
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
TOKYO - Softbank Corp. will sell 40,000 Yahoo! Japan Corp. shares in March, the Tokyo-based Internet company said Monday.
The sale of shares owned by Softbank and Softbank BB, its broadband unit, will reduce Softbank's stake in Yahoo! Japan to 41.9 percent from 50 percent, Yahoo! Japan spokesman Toru Nagano said.
Japan's top business daily, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, reported earlier Monday that Yahoo! Japan wants to switch to the Tokyo Stock Exchange first section as early as June from its current listing on the over-the-counter Jasdaq exchange.
The newspaper cited no identified source for its report.
Nagano denied any decision had been made. "It may make sense, but things are undecided," he said.
The sale of some of the Softbank's stake in Yahoo! Japan could help clear a condition for Yahoo! Japan to switch to the first section. For a first section listing, a company's 10 biggest shareholders must not own more than a combined 80 percent of the company.
The combined stake of Softbank, Softbank BB and Yahoo! of the United States currently totals 84 percent of Yahoo! Japan shares. That will be reduced to 75.6 percent after the latest share sale.
Another condition is the requirement for at least 7,700 shareholders, but the latest sale may help boost that from the current 5,536, Nagano said.
The market capitalization of Yahoo! Japan makes up as much as 13 percent of Jasdaq's market capitalization but will drop to just 0.4 percent of the first section's capitalization.
Softbank, now in talks to sell its stake in Aozora Bank, wants cash to focus on its broadband business at a time when competition is intensifying in that sector.
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