Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon wants his company to be part of a consortium of rivals that would invest in Arm and ensure its independence.
Arm Holdings is one of the leading semiconductor design firms, with companies around the globe licensing its designs to serve as the basis for their chips. Apple’s A-series and M1 line of chips are prime examples. The company was recently in talks to be acquired by Nvidia, but that deal fell through over concerns that owning Arm would give Nvidia an unfair advantage. Amon wants to make sure that scenario is never again a possibility.
SoftBank, Arm’s current owner, is now looking to spin-off Arm as an independent company following the failure of the Nvidia deal. Amon told Financial Times, via Ars Technica, he wants many companies to invest in Arm to ensure no one company could gain an unfair advantage.
“We’re an interested party in investing,” Amon said in an interview. “It’s a very important asset and it’s an asset which is going to be essential to the development of our industry.”
“You’d need to have many companies participating so they have a net effect that Arm is independent,” he added.
Amon sees this strategy as a way for Arm to return to its roots and do business the way it did before SoftBank acquired it.
“Arm has won everywhere because of the collective investment of the entire ecosystem, from companies like Apple and Qualcomm and many others, and that’s because it was an independent, open architecture that everybody could invest in,” said Amon, referring to the pre-SoftBank period.
Given Arm’s importance to the industry, it’s a safe bet his sentiments will be echoed by many of Arm’s customers. In fact, Intel has expressed similar interest in a consortium to purchase Arm.
T-Mobile is expending its shutdown date for Sprint’s CDMA network, giving devices reliant on it a brief lease on life.
T-Mobile bought Sprint in April 2020 and has been working to integrate the latter’s spectrum in its own network. In order to fully do that, however, T-Mobile plans to shut down Sprint’s CDMA network, freeing up that spectrum. The company was planning to shut down Sprint’s network on March 31, 2022, but the company has evidently delayed the shutdown date by a couple of months.
According to SoftBank, Sprint’s former owner, T-Mobile now plans to shutdown the old CDMA network on May 31, 2022.
Sprint will be shutting down gradually its CDMA network towards Thursday, May 31, 2022※1. In the shut down area, you may not be able to make a voice call or it may be temporarily out of service. In order to respond to this shutdown and to ensure the stable use of the America Flat-rate option, customers using the option will need to update their USIM card.
Interestingly, SoftBank says the date may be postponed again.
Due to the circumstance of Sprint, the date has been postponed from March 31, 2022 to May 31, 2022. Incidentally, there is a possibility that the date of May 31 will be rescheduled in future.
In the wake of its failed Nvidia deal, Arm is cutting up to 15% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs.
Nvidia made a high-profile attempt to purchase Britain’s leading tech company for some $40 billion. Arm’s current owner, SoftBank, has been eager to sell the chip designer in an effort to recoup losses it has incurred from some of its other investments. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, however, objected to the merger over anti-competitive concerns, ultimately scuttling the deal.
In the wake of the failed deal, Arm’s CEO resigned and was succeeded by Rene Haas. Haas has now informed employees of a significant cut in the company’s workforce, some 15%, or roughly 1,000 employees. The new CEO sent an email to employees that was seen by The Telegraph, according to The Register.
“To stay competitive, we need to remove duplication of work now that we are one Arm; stop work that is no longer critical to our future success; and think about how we get work done.”
Haas added that Arm needs “to be more disciplined about our costs and where we’re investing.”
SoftBank has already made it clear it intends to take Arm public. The workforce cuts are likely an effort to trim the fat from Arm and put it in the best position to compete as an independent company.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has expressed his interest in joining a consortium aimed at purchasing Arm Holdings.
Nvidia called off its attempt to purchase Arm in early February. The deal had met with backlash in both the US and the EU, with many concerned about a potential conflict of interest. Arm doesn’t manufacture any of its semiconductor designs, but does license them to whatever company is willing to pay. Many industry experts were concerned Nvidia may keeps Arm’s best designs for its own use, breaking with the company’s long-standing practice.
Now that the Nvidia/Arm deal has fallen though, many are wondering what will become of Arm. While it has owned Arm since 2016, SoftBank had made it clear that it wanted to sell or spin off the semiconductor firm, likely to help offset the losses it has suffered with other investments.
One possibility that was raised even before Nvidia’s ill-fated attempt to purchase Arm, was a consortium of companies purchasing the firm. According to Reuters, Gelsinger has left the door open to that possibility.
“We’re not big users of Arm, but we do use Arm. We’re going to get to be bigger users of Arm as we make it part of our IFS (foundry business) agenda as well,” he told Reuters. “So if a consortium would emerge, we would probably be very favorable to participate in it in some manner.”
Meanwhile, following the failed Nvidia deal, SoftBank has indicated it will take the semiconductor firm public, an outcome Gelsinger would also support.
Nvidia and Arm have officially abandoned a deal that would have seen Nvidia purchase the semiconductor firm for $40 billion.
Nvidia announced in September 2020 that it would purchase Arm Holdings for $40 billion. Almost immediately, critics jumped on the announcement, citing a number of concerns. UK lawmakers were concerned about the country’s preeminent semiconductor firm being sold to an American company, especially at a time when the semiconductor industry is increasingly becoming an area of national security focus. Competitors were concerned Nvidia would hoard Arm’s greatest breakthroughs for itself, in contrast to Arm’s long-standing pattern of selling its semiconductor designs to any company willing to pay.
After intense opposition from the UK, the EU, and even a lawsuit filed by the FCC to block the acquisition, the two companies have officially called it off.
“Arm has a bright future, and we’ll continue to support them as a proud licensee for decades to come,” said Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive officer of NVIDIA. “Arm is at the center of the important dynamics in computing. Though we won’t be one company, we will partner closely with Arm. The significant investments that Masa has made have positioned Arm to expand the reach of the Arm CPU beyond client computing to supercomputing, cloud, AI and robotics. I expect Arm to be the most important CPU architecture of the next decade.”
Meanwhile, Arm’s CEO, Simon Segars, has stepped down and been replaced by Rene Haas, a 35-year veteran of the semiconductor industry.
“Rene is the right leader to accelerate Arm’s growth as the company starts making preparations to re-enter the public markets,” said Masayoshi Son, Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. “I would like to thank Simon for his leadership, contributions and dedication to Arm over the past 30 years.”
“It is an honor to lead the world’s most influential technology company at a time when Arm’s market opportunity has never been greater,” said Mr. Haas. “As the innovators of the industry’s most pervasive compute architecture, Arm changed lives around the globe by delivering the technology at the heart of the smartphone revolution. We are now uniquely positioned to address the diverse demands of AI, cloud, IoT, automotive and the Metaverse. And with the uncertainty of the past several months behind us, we are emboldened by a renewed energy to move into a growth strategy and change lives around the world―again.”
After months of intense scrutiny and delays, it appears Nvidia is preparing to abandon its attempts to acquire Arm Holding.
SoftBank first signaled in July 2020 that it was looking sell off its share of Arm Holding, or take the company public, with Nvidia announcing in September of that year that it would acquire Arm for $40 billion. Almost immediately, the deal received widespread criticism, with Arm’s co-founder calling it an “absolute disaster.”
Governments around the world expressed antitrust concerns, opening investigation into the acquisition. The UK signaled it may try to block Nvidia’s efforts, the EU regulators launched an investigation, and the FCC filed a lawsuit to block the deal.
According to a report by Bloomberg, it appears Nvidia may be ready to abandon the deal altogether. According to Boomberg’s source, while the company publicly says it is still trying to make it happen, it is privately telling partners that it doesn’t expect the deal to go through.
Many countries and industry experts were concerned that Nvidia would keep Arm’s best innovations to itself, giving it a competitive advantage. Given Arm’s long-standing practice of licensing its semiconductor designs to anyone who wanted to use them, any change in how the company might operate under Nvidia could cause massive ripple effects throughout the industry.
Meanwhile, the UK was especially concerned about its premier semiconductor company being under the control of a US corporation at a time when the semiconductor industry is being impacted by national security concerns like never before.
Ultimately, Nvidia has not been able to effectively address these concerns, leading to the current situation.
Deutsche Telekom is continuing its goal of direct control over T-Mobile US, increasing its stake in the carrier by 5.3%.
Deutsche Telekom is the largest shareholder in T-Mobile US, but comes up short of majority control. To bolster its share, Deutsche Telekom brokered a share-swap deal with Softbank. As the owner of Sprint, Softbank gained a stake in T-Mobile when the magenta carrier purchased its smaller rival.
According to Reuters, Deutsche Telekom and Softbank’s share-swap gives Deutsche Telekom an additional 5.3% stake in T-Mobile US, in exchange for Softbank taking a 4.5% stake in Deutsche Telekom.
Deutsche Telekom’s CEO Tim Hoettges wants to own a majority share of T-Mobile US, and this latest deal gets him to 48.4%. Hoettges’ ambitions are not surprising, given T-Mobile’s status in the US market. Once the undisputed underdog, the company has vaulted to the number two position and has a commanding lead in the US 5G market, a lead many experts expect it to maintain for years to come.
Separately, Deutsche Telekom sold T-Mobile Netherlands to private equity houses for $6.05 billion, shedding a non-core asset and further streamlining the company.
Arm Holding’s venture in China, Arm China, has gone rogue, seized IP and is trying to establish itself as an independent company.
As part of its efforts to expand in China, Arm’s parent company, SoftBank, was pressured to create a joint venture in which Arm only owned 49% of the venture, Arm China. It didn’t take long for problems to develop and Arm China’s CEO, Allen Wu, went rogue.
Despite SoftBank’s allies within Arm China voting 7-1 to fire Wu, he remained in power via the company seal. Under Chinese law, the seal gives the holder control over a company, and Arm Holdings has not been able to retrieve it from Wu. In the meantime, Wu ousted any officials in opposition to his continued leadership and hired security loyal to him.
According to SemiAnalysis, the situation has escalated significantly. Arm China has seized the Arm Holdings IP it had access to and held an event declaring its independence as a new company, 安谋科技. The new company plans to chart its own path in the semiconductor industry, building on the IP it has to create its own designs.
It’s unclear to what extent this will hurt Arm Holdings. Since this drama has been building for some time, Arm had already stopped sharing any new IP with the Chinese venture. According to SemiAnalsys, the latest CPU IP Arm China had access to was the Cortex A77. Critically, the Armv9 designs were never made available to Arm China. The Armv9 is the next generation Arm achitecture that will power future chips. Even with its most recent IP protected, however, China is still a huge market for Arm Holdings, one it may lose altogether to 安谋科技.
The bigger issue at stake is whether Chinese authorities will step up and enforce Arm Holdings’ position, or whether they will embrace the new entity, regardless of the unethical way it was founded. So far, Chinese authorities have been of no help to Arm Holdings, which does not bode well.
Should China back 安谋科技, it will send a very clear message to other companies looking to do business in the country:
‘We won’t honor your IP and will encourage our own companies to steal, hijack and pirate your innovations. Do business here at your own peril’
SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) today announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of WeWork Inc. (formerly referred to as The We Company) (“the Special Committee”) and WeWork’s founder, Adam Neumann. The terms of the settlement are confidential. When completed, the settlement agreement would resolve all claims brought in a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, and is in the best interests of all parties.
“This agreement is the result of all parties coming to the table for the sake of doing what is best for the future of WeWork. SoftBank and WeWork have spent the past year transforming the WeWork business and executing on our plan towards profitability. With this litigation behind us, we are fully focused on our mission to reimagine the workplace and continue to meet the growing demand for flexible space around the world.” — Marcelo Claure, Executive Chairman of WeWork, CEO of SoftBank Group International, and Corporate Officer, Executive Vice President and COO of SoftBank.
The Wall Street Journal previously outlined the likely settlement:
WeWork co-founder and former Chief Executive Adam Neumann is set to reap an extra $50 million windfall and other benefits as part of an agreement that would settle a bitter dispute he and other early investors in the shared-office-space provider have waged with SoftBank Group Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.
As The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, the parties are closing in on a deal in which SoftBank, WeWork’s majority shareholder, would buy about $1.5 billion of stock from other investors, including nearly $500 million from Mr. Neumann. That is about half as much as it previously planned to buy.
But part of the deal not previously reported sets Mr. Neumann apart from other shareholders. It calls for SoftBank to give the 41-year-old the $50 million special payout and extend by five years a $430 million loan it made to him in late 2019, the people said. SoftBank is also slated to pay $50 million for Mr. Neumann’s legal fees. It isn’t clear how much it is paying for the other shareholders’ legal fees.
OneWeb, a company dedicated to satellite-based internet, has raised additional funding from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems.
OneWeb has been working to launch a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide internet access. When compared with traditional satellite internet services, low-Earth orbit provides speeds and latency that rivals traditional broadband.
OneWeb is one of the prime competitors to SpaceX’s Starlink service, although OneWeb has yet to achieve the success of Starlink. The company declared bankruptcy in 2020, emerging from Chapter 11 in November.
2021 is already looking brighter for OneWeb, with investments from Hughes Network and SoftBank, bringing its total funding to $1.4 billion. The company is now fully funded for the first stage of its constellation, totally 648 satellites, which it plans to have operational by the end of 2022.
“We are delighted to welcome the investment from SoftBank and Hughes,” said Executive Chairman of OneWeb. “Both are deeply familiar with our business, share our vision for the future, and their commitment allows us to capitalise on the significant growth opportunity ahead for OneWeb. We gain from their experience and capabilities, as we deliver a unique LEO network for the world.”
A big factor in OneWeb’s favor is its streamlined plans, which it announced on January 13. The company had originally asked the FCC for licenses to 47,884 satellites. Now the company only plans on using 6,372.
Hopefully OneWeb’s latest funding will help it become a viable competitor to Starlink, giving consumers more choice in a burgeoning market.
Hyundai is acquiring a majority stake in Boston Dynamics, the maker of robotic dog Spot.
Hyundai will take an 80% stake Boston Dynamics, while existing owner SoftBank will maintain a 20% stake. Hyundai sees the acquisition as an important step toward its transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider.
Boston Dynamics Spot
Hyundai has increasingly been innovating beyond the traditional concept of the automobile. The company is investing heavily in its Urban Air Mobility platform, in an effort to make aerial transport and ride-sharing a reality. Similarly, Hyundai and Autodesk are working to create the Ultimate Mobility Vehicle(UMV), a vehicle with legs that can walk to reach areas a traditional vehicle cannot. The latter, in particular, is a concept that bears a striking resemblance to Boston Dynamics’ work.
Elevate
We are delighted to have Boston Dynamics, a world leader in mobile robots, join the Hyundai team. This transaction will unite capabilities of Hyundai Motor Group and Boston Dynamics to spearhead innovation in future mobility. The synergies created by our union offer exciting new pathways for our companies to realize our goal – providing free and safe movement and higher plane of life experiences for humanity. We will also contribute to the society by enhancing its safety, security, public health amid global trends of aging society and digital transformation. — Euisun Chung Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group
Hyundai’s stake in Boston Dynamics should help the company continue innovating as automobile makers look beyond traditional transportation.
SoftBank is considering selling off Arm Holdings, or taking the chip designer public.
Arm designs the chips used in a wide array of phones and tablets, including Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Apple recently announced it would transition the Mac from Intel to its own custom silicon, based on ARM chips.
While Arm Holdings was originally a joint venture between Apple, Acorn and VLSI Technology, the company eventually went public before being acquired by SoftBank in 2016 for $32 billion. SoftBank has had its own share of troubles lately, exemplified by the WeWork debacle. As a result, according to CNET, the company is looking at a sale or IPO of Arm.
At this point, nothing is certain, and SoftBank may not even proceed with any plans. Should it move forward with a sale, however, Apple would certainly have the resources and the motivation to buy the company, as its entire hardware lineup is about to be tied with Arm’s future.
Following their court win allowing their proposed merger to move forward, T-Mobile and Sprint have come to new terms.
In the aftermath of their court victory, it was reported that T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom was renegotiating the terms of the deal as a result of how much Sprint had dropped in value since the original deal was struck. When asked about it, CEO Timotheus Hottges declined to comment on any internal negotiations.
The two companies have successfully completed negotiations, with Deutsche Telekom taking a 43% stake in the new company, up from 42%. Meanwhile, Sprint parent SoftBank will have 24%, with the remaining 33% held by public shareholders.
“Today’s announcement is another significant step forward toward finally closing this transaction! Throughout this journey, T-Mobile and Sprint have been singularly focused on one thing: building a supercharged Un-carrier that will offer U.S. consumers a broad and deep nationwide 5G network, more choice and greater competition. We are now on the threshold of achieving our goal. And did I mention how fun it’s going to be sticking it to Dumb, Dumber and Big Cable along the way? This is going to be epic!” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile.
“With today’s agreement in place, we are now turning our attention toward our goal of closing this transaction and creating the New T-Mobile as early as April 1, 2020,” said Mike Sievert, COO and President of T-Mobile, and appointed CEO of the company starting on May 1, 2020. “We are on the verge of being able to do what we’ve set out to do from day one — reshape a broken wireless industry and create the new standard for consumers when it comes to value, speed, quality and service. The New T-Mobile is literally going to change wireless for good and now we’re almost ready to get to the fun part: bringing our teams together, building this supercharged Un-carrier and becoming the envy of the wireless industry and beyond!”
T-Mobile and Sprint may have been cleared for their merger by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, but T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom may be going back to the drawing board in some respects.
Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Deutsche Telekom is looking to renegotiate the price of Sprint, given that its value has fallen from where it was when terms were first agreed upon. The news is not unexpected given Sprint’s current position in the market, as the fourth largest carrier has continued to bleed subscribers.
In fact, one of the arguments the companies made in their court case was that, without a merger, Sprint would not have the ability to continue forward as a national carrier. Instead, it would likely have to abandon a number of markets and settle for being a regional carrier.
Given the situation, it’s unlikely Sprint parent SoftBank will put up too much of a fight, although there are no guarantees. SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son ended the previous round of merger negotiations in 2017 because of a dispute over which company should have the controlling interest in a combined T-Mobile. In spite of the fact that Sprint was already losing ground and T-Mobile’s future was looking brighter than ever, Son wanted SoftBank to have the controlling interest in the merged company, not Deutsche Telekom.
Considering how far Sprint has fallen, however, Son may not have much room to negotiate this time around.
After testimony from both T-Mobile and Sprint executives claiming the number four carrier cannot survive without the merger with T-Mobile, Sprint’s former CEO Marcelo Claure flipped the script and claimed the company could be viable on its own.
Bloomberg is reporting that T-Mobile CEO John Legere had previously testified that Sprint’s $40 billion in debt and unfavorable position in the market meant it would be “sold for parts” without a merger. However, when Claure—currently executive chairman of Sprint; COO of Sprint’s parent company, SoftBank Group Corp.; and CEO of SoftBank Group International—took the stand, he had a different outlook.
“Those are possibilities,” Claure responded. “I don’t necessarily agree completely.”
Claure did go on to say that without the merger, the road ahead would be a difficult one and likely require Sprint to leave some markets.
“Sprint two years from now would be a very different from Sprint today, because we would cease to be a national competitor.” Claure added. He also indicated the carrier would likely have to borrow additional money and raise prices.
Similarly, current CEO Michel Combes testified that without the deal, Sprint would have to pull back from some markets, although it would still cover three quarters of the U.S. population.
Given that opponents of the merger do not want to see the U.S. wireless market go from four national carriers to three, Claure and Combes testimony may still help the case for the merger. In effect, both executives are implying that Sprint will cease being a national carrier and join the ranks of a regional carrier should the merger fail.
In addition, as part of the deal, T-Mobile and Sprint would sell off wireless assets to Dish Network to help it become a new fourth carrier. Dish’s CEO Charlie Ergen testified that his company would be ready to compete with the other carriers “from day one,” once the deal is finalized and it acquires the assets involved.
Ultimately, the court may decide that the market would be better served by Dish Network acting as the fourth carrier, rather than a crippled Sprint.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that WeWork was in talks with T-Mobile CEO John Legere to take over at the office space company. Now, according to Alex Sherman at CNBC, Legere is not taking the job.
In many ways, Legere was a natural choice for a WeWork CEO. WeWork is being taken over by SoftBank, the parent company of Sprint. T-Mobile and Sprint are nearing the end of a merger deal years in the marking. With FCC and DOJ approval, the merger only has to survive a lawsuit from a handful of states. In the meantime, however, Legere is a known factor for SoftBank leadership, as they have worked with him throughout the merger process. That first-hand experience no doubt made him a top candidate for the job.
Sources familiar with the situation, however, said that Legere has no plans on leaving T-Mobile. The news is no doubt a welcome relief to T-Mobile investors. During his time with the company, Legere has taken it from a distant fourth place among U.S. carriers to a solid third place and growing at a record rate. Legere was also instrumental in helping get approval for the merger, and will be a steadying influence as the two companies combine.
It should be interesting to see how much T-Mobile can grow with the combined revenue, subscribers and spectrum of the two companies, not to mention Legere’s continuing leadership.
“Scale is the primary driver toward profitability,” says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “It’s getting big. We’ve got over a billion rides per quarter and we’ve got trips growing at 35 percent on a year on year basis. It’s a combination of growing top-line over 35 percent, technology innovation to delight the customer and take costs down at the same time, and then good old fashioned efficiency, making sure that our corporate costs don’t grow as fast as our revenue. All of those together give you a formula to get to profitability.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber Technologies Inc., discusses how Uber can continue to be transformational and ultimately be profitable in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:
Uber Can Continue To Be Transformational
We have resolved all of the governance conflicts that the company had. There were many legal issues that the company was involved with. We have SoftBank as a partner and you want SoftBank to be behind you and a big partner and a big investor. We have a great investor base. We’ve taken the company public and company’s revenue, gross bookings, have grown 75 percent since I joined. We now have a path to profitability. So while we’ve had bumps on the road, and every adventure has bumps on the road, I like where we are. I especially like the position we are in now for the next two years.
I think Uber (can continue to be transformational over the next decade). Really what Uber has done is brought transportation and opportunity at this point to what we believe is just a small segment of the population. We’ve got over four million driver-partners all over the world which is a huge number. It is unparalleled. But we want Uber to be available to everybody. What we are doing now is going into the next step of introducing other transportation choices to Uber. We’ve always gone with pool, but for example, we are testing busses in Cairo now to even bring the price of Uber down to the next level, a dollar or a buck fifty, etc.
The Rideshare Business Itself Is Turning Quite Profitable
We are introducing bikes and scooters for personal electric mobility. Essentially, anyway that you want to get around your city we are going to be there for you. It will be mostly Uber goods but we will also have other third parties such as transit, such as one of our partners Lime as well. Any way that you want to get around we want Uber to be there. And if you want food, if you want even local commerce which I think we will power or even Uber Eats or some of our other services will be there for you as well.
If you look at our rideshare business, it covered our overhead less than about $100 million. The rideshare business itself is turning quite profitable. We believe that the profits in the rideshare business are not only going to grow top-line but we believe we are going to grow the bottom-line as well. Then there are other businesses, Eats, autonomous, freight, etc. These are extraordinary opportunities that we are funding. I do believe that we are going to prove to our investors that we can take on a serial basis big parts of our business, turn them profitable, and use those parts of our business to fund investments in other areas.
Our Formula To Profitability
I’m very confident that Uber can be profitable. I think the losses that we reported, it was a $5 billion loss from an accounting perspective. If you live in an accounting world that’s a big loss. I live in the real world. Actually, in the real world or EBITDA losses of $656 million were lower than Q1 and were on a good path in terms of our EBITDA losses as well. None of this is going to be easy. All of this is going to take great execution from all of our teams, marketing, technology, etc. We are going to be demanding our employees to be doing even more with less and to execute incredibly effectively in order for us to grow the top-line and the bottom-line as well.
Scale (is the primary driver toward profitability). It’s getting big. We’ve got over a billion rides per quarter and we’ve got trips growing at 35 percent on a year on year basis. We think we can use technology to be much more efficient. For example, instead of you now having to email a call center agent or call a call center agent if you have issues, you can just do it in the app. These are technology innovations that allow customers to have a better experience and at the same time they bring down costs. It’s a combination of growing top-line over 35 percent, technology innovation to delight the customer and take costs down at the same time, and then good old fashioned efficiency, making sure that our corporate costs don’t grow as fast as our revenue. All of those together give you a formula to get to profitability.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: Our Formula To Profitability
“Autonomous driving is coming no matter what,” says Says SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. “That’s the destiny of where technology is going to drive us.” He adds: “When autonomous driving comes the cost of providing the service will dramatically get more efficient. It will also dramatically reduce the rate of accidents compared to human driving accidents. I think autonomous driving will be definitely coming very very soon.”
I Definitely Believe Uber is Going to Grow Exponentially
I would like SoftBank to remain invested in Uber as long as possible. Of course, it all depends on the share price (after their IPO). Sometimes the share price goes up too high too quickly and then we have to harvest a little bit. It all depends on the market conditions. But do I believe the company is going to grow exponentially? I definitely believe so.
I’m very respectful (of our) dialogue with the new management (led by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi). He’s very very smart and very well balanced. He can be very offensive (strategically) in increasing the business and he can also be very cost-efficient (and good with) employee morale and so on.
Travis Kalanick is a Pioneer
I respect that but at the same time, I also have to mention that I respect (Uber co-founder and former CEO) Travis (Kalanick) tremendously. He’s one of the best entrepreneurs. He is a pioneer. When you pioneer a new frontier you have to have the energy, the passion, and out-of-the-box thinking. His aggressive is one of the best. Potentially, I would love to support him in his new ventures. It all depends on the price. But I have tremendous respect for him.
Autonomous Driving is Coming No Matter What, Says SoftBank CEO
Merger negotiations between Sprint and T-Mobile have hit a stone wall again, with the former’s parent company, Softbank, apparently ready to walk away from the table. The news came as a surprise as the merger was expected to be formally announced at the end of October or early November.
It has been reported that Sprint and T-Mobile are once more at loggerheads over the merger. The problem reportedly boils down to whether Softbank or Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent company, that would end up having a bigger share in the deal.
It has been widely believed that Deutsche Telekom would have a controlling share of the merged companies since T-Mobile has 10 million more subscribers than Sprint. Conventional business practice dictates that in a merger, the larger company would be assuming control.
Softbank initially appeared to be amenable with the situation. However, Japan’s financial newspaper, Nikkei, reported that it’s not.
SoftBank Group Corp., which owns more than 80% of Sprint’s shares, will cease its efforts to merge with T-Mobile https://t.co/wFh3yBfvxE
According to reports, Softbank is determined to have the controlling share. The company’s board has allegedly voted last Friday to retain control of the combined companies and is apparently willing toend negotiations if it doesn’t get it.
The disagreement between the two companies is just par for the course. In 2014, both Deutsche Telekom and Softbank ended negotiations when it appeared that the deal would be blocked by regulators. Talks were resumed after Donald Trump was elected president.
It’s highly unlikely that the merger talks between the two companies would end that easily, as both Softbank and Deutsche Telekom have a heavy interest in the deal. In any case, they do haveother options open to them, including new partners.
There’s a possibility that Softbank is hoping the news that they will “propose ending the negotiations” will get T-Mobile’s parent company to reconsider some of their terms. Some industry insiders believe the move is a bluff by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to get a better deal from T-Mobile. The CEO has billed himself as an accomplished deal-maker, and some say Son would consider losing control of the combined corporation as a personal failure.
If Sprint and T-Mobile do come to an agreement and merge, their combined assets will put them on the same footing as AT&T and Verizon. Instead of being a close third and fourth place in the market, the merged companies would be squarely in the third spot.
The merger would also lead to a major change in America’s wireless sector, as the two medium-sized companies will be transformed into one of the industry’s major players.
Sprint Nextel shareholders recently voted overwhelmingly to approve a proposed merger between Sprint and SoftBank. Earlier this week, the deal cleared one final hurdle with the unanimous decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve the merger. Today, Sprint and SoftBank have announced that the merger is officially complete.
SoftBank has paid $21.6 billion for Sprint, acquiring 72% of Sprint’s current shares for $7.65 per share. Around $16.6 billion of that money is available to Sprint stockholders, with the rest being invested in shoring up the newly named Sprint Corporation’s financials. The new company will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “S” starting July 12.
Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel, has been named the CEO of Sprint Corporation. Chairman, CEO, and founder of SoftBank Masayoshi Son will serve as the new chairman of the board of Sprint Corporation. President of SoftBan Holdings Ronald Fisher has been named vice chairman of the board, and former U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen has also been named to the board. The new company’s headquarters will stay in Sprint’s old headquarters location, Overland Park, Kansas.
In late June, Sprint Nextel shareholders voted to approve the proposed merger of Sprint and SoftBank during a special shareholders meeting. The only hurdle left for the companies was the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which needed to approve the transaction. On Friday, while many Americans were still enjoying an extended Fourth of July holiday, the FCC came through with its approval, clearing the way for the merger.
“We would like to thank Acting Chairwoman Clyburn, Commissioners Rosenworcel and Pai, as well as the staff of the FCC for their thorough review of these transactions,” said Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint. “Just two years ago, the wireless industry was at the doorstep of duopoly, but with these transformative transactions, we are one step closer to a stronger Sprint which will better serve consumers, challenge the market share leaders and drive innovation in the American economy.”
The FCC voted unanimously to approve both the SoftBank-Sprint merger and Sprint’s acquisition of telecom company Clearwire. Clearwire’s shareholders are expected to approve the transaction when they vote on the acquisition at a shareholders meeting scheduled for today. Clearwire’s Board of Directors has endorsed the acquisition, recommending it to shareholders after Sprint increased its acquisition price in late June.
“We appreciate the forward thinking, consumer focused stance the FCC has taken by approving the proposed transaction. As the company that built America’s first nationwide 4G network, Clearwire looks forward to joining Sprint and deploying an even faster and richer 4G experience for consumers across the country,” said Clearwire CEO and President Erik Prusch. “This is the right transaction at the right time to best deploy Clearwire’s spectrum to create a broadband network that will bring additional services and alternatives to wireless consumers.”
