Vodafone Japan
ORG
Vodafone Vodafone Japan
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. Masayoshi Son, Softbank's billionaire chief executive said that the purchase of Vodafone Japan allows them to drastically accelerate their efforts and they can start from a far bigger base than if they had to begin from scratch. Mr. Son 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.