Softbank
ORG
Softbank
Softbank, the Japanese Internet company, will buy Vodafone's Japanese cellphone unit in a deal worth $15.4 billion, the companies said Friday, ending the British mobile phone giant's foray into one of the world's largest and toughest markets. Softbank beat out a competing bid by a group of private equity firms led by Cerberus Capital Management of the United States. Masayoshi Son, Softbank's billionaire chief executive said Softbank would borrow as much as 1.2 trillion yen ($10.3 billion) to finance the purchase, which will give his company a 97.68 percent share of Vodafone's Japan unit.