Yahoo, Line, Dish Network could be Softbank acquisition targets
Yahoo [NASDAQ: YHOO], Dish Network [NASDAQ: DISH] and Line may be the next acquisition targets for Softbank [TYO: 9984], after Japan’s third-largest mobile communications company dropped a plan to purchase T-Moible US [NYSE: TMUS], according to a newswire report.
Yahoo is in the business categories -- music, Internet or entertainment businesses -- that the Japanese company may be seeking potential targets in, Bloomberg reported, citing analysts.
Softbank may consider a purchase of Dish Network so as to better compete with AT&T [NYSE: T], the report added, according to Abelian Research. Acquiring Line, a Japanese messaging service provider, is another choice, Bloomberg reported a source from Thornburg Investment Management as saying.
It is also possible for Softbank to acquire its units and subsidiaries such as Yahoo Japan [TYO: 4689] and Alibaba [HKG: 1688] by swapping Softbank’s stake in non-core operations with Yahoo’s stakes in those companies, the report added, citing Di Zhou, an analyst at Thornburg Investment.