Softbank completes its acquisition of ARM Holdings for $32 billion; ARM to be delisted from LSE today

The SoftBank Group has reported that it has completed the process of acquiring ARM Holdings for around $32 billion. ARM Holdings will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange today. SoftBank Group is essentially a Japanese telecommunications and internet company established in 1981. The company considers itself to be an internet company owing to its heavy investments in Yahoo, Alibaba and more. Softbank’s CEO and founder, Masayoshi Son says that the acquisition of ARM is a bid to further SoftBank’s IoT (Internet of Things) plans. ARM Holdings has been diversifying into IoT these last few years as smartphone sales are beginning to stagnate. In order to raise money for the acquisition, SoftBank reportedly sold off a part of its stake in Alibaba for $7.9 billion and its entire stake in Supercell (to Tencent) for $8.6 billion. They’ve also taken on a loan of $9 billion. Following the official announcement of the ARM takeover, ARM chairman, Stuart Chambers, and certain members of the senior staff resigned. SoftBank has indicated their intention of running ARM as an independent company with the same senior management, brand values and business strategy that ARM’s been following so far. SoftBank also intends to double the headcount in ARM’s UK offices, reports TechCrunch. ARM Holdings’ global employee count currently stands at 4,000. Many have interpreted SoftBank’s bid on ARM as a move to take advantage of the company’s “distressed” condition following Brexit. Son rubbished all such rumours by stating that the acquisition process was already underway long before Brexit reared its head. Reiterating his company’s interest in IoT, he said, “I’m not investing in a distressed asset, I’m investing in a paradigm shift…. that’s my passion, and that’s  my view.”