TOKYO -- Japan's SoftBank Group has agreed to acquire the U.K.'s ARM Holdings for more than $30 billion, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
ARM is a global leader in smartphone chip design. The agreement, if confirmed, would allow SoftBank to make a strong push in one of the next big tech markets, the internet of things.
The reports cited sources familiar with the situation. The companies are expected to announce the agreement later on Monday.
Less than one month ago, SoftBank announced the resignation of President Nikesh Arora. He had been named as CEO Masayoshi Son's heir apparent, but Son expressed a desire to stay on longer than expected.
Lately, the telecommunications company has been busy turning its assets into cash, accumulating 2 trillion yen ($19.1 billion) over the past month. It unwound its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and Japanese smartphone game developer GungHo Online Entertainment. On Tuesday, it also agreed to sell Finnish mobile game provider Supercell to Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings for $7.3 billion.
(Nikkei)
