Shares rise more than 5%
SoftBank is debating a strategy of going private by gradually buying back outstanding shares until founder Masayoshi Son has a large enough stake to squeeze out remaining investors, according to people familiar cited by Bloomberg.
Shares of the company -- which has been the 'whale' in the options market at various points this year -- are up more than 5% in Tokyo.
Masayoshi Son's stake is now about 27% but the strategy would involve buying back shares until it rose to 66%, likely via selling assets.
The shares of the company trade at a discount to NAV that reportedly rose as high as 66% in March. At the time, he tried to engineer a buyback but couldn't get lenders on board.
