Japanese broadband service provider Softbank Corp announced yesterday it will make an offer to buy a professional baseball team from troubled retailer Daiei Inc.
Softbank President Masayoshi Son said his Tokyo-based company, also a stakeholder in Yahoo Inc, plans to discuss an offer for the popular Daiei Hawks baseball club with Japan's professional baseball association, as well as local and federal government officials.
No financial details
Son said the company had no plans to move the club from its base in southern Fukuoka city.
He didn't give any financial details, but the daily Asahi Shimbun reported yesterday that Softbank hopes to acquire the Daiei Hawks in time for the start of the 2005 season next spring.
Softbank is the third Internet company trying to enter the sport after dire financial straits prompted a merger crisis this summer.
Internet services companies, Livedoor and Rakuten, have been engaged in a heated battle for a new baseball team set to enter next year's season after a merger between the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Orix BlueWave.
Purchasing the Hawks would help raise Softbank's profile and broaden the content of its services, the company said in a statement.
The announcement comes after the team's heavily indebted parent company, Daiei, was forced by lenders last week to seek a government bailout. Daiei is struggling with more than a ?1 trillion (US$9 billion) in debt.
The retailer's woes have attracted attention partly because of its ownership of the Daiei Hawks, and the bailout request came as Japanese professional baseball struggles with its own financial crisis.
The merger prompted the first players' strike in the 70-year history of Japanese baseball amid fears that it would lead to more mergers and job losses.
Approval needed
In Japan, new baseball stakeholders must first gain the approval from the owners of the other teams.
Softbank has been focusing on strengthening its foothold in broadband Internet service and expanding its content, and recently bought Japan Telecom Co, the nation's third-largest telecommunications carrier.
Softbank reported its third straight year of losses, marking a group net loss of ?107 billion (US$948 million) for the fiscal year ended March this year due to costs in expanding broadband services.
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