Softbank Corp is to invest US$1 billion in South Korean online retailer Coupang as billionaire Masayoshi Son expands his overseas e-commerce investments to tap new growth.
A unit of Softbank will make the investment, which will close at the start of next month, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement yesterday.
Coupang is the largest standalone e-commerce company in South Korea, it said.
Son has said Softbank is entering a global expansion stage and last month promoted Nikesh Arora to president to lead the push.
The company’s e-commerce investments already include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), India’s Snapdeal.com and Yahoo Japan Corp.
The Japanese carrier is to buy new shares issued by the retailer, Softbank spokesman Mitsuhiro Kurano said.
The company declined to disclose the percentage of Coupang’s shares it is to own after the purchase.
Son has said he plans to take stakes of 30 to 40 percent in Internet companies based in Asia as he seeks to follow up his success with Alibaba, an investment currently valued at about US$70 billion.
Softbank already has stakes in about 1,300 companies, including about 32 percent of Alibaba.
Arora joined Coupang’s board last month and will continue to serve as a director, the firm said.
Coupang raised US$300 million in funding in December last year, which increased its valuation to more than US$2 billion, a person familiar with the deal said at the time.
The company at the time had more than 2,000 employees and offices in South Korea, Shanghai, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.
Mobile sales account for more than 75 percent of Coupang’s revenue.
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