Funding Daily: Personalized web, ‘big data,’ Yahoo Japan, and marketing automation

April 24, 2013 9:02 PM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Wednesday was a fairly busy day for deals, with old-industry blue chipper GE investing big into a new platform as a service company, Yahoo Japan investing in U.S. startups, and API management company 3scale announcing new funding to grow faster.

Softbank says its deal is better for Sprint than Dish’s, expects to finalize by July

April 16, 2013 5:40 AM Devindra Hardawar
Devindra Hardawar

Softbank remains unfazed by Dish's higher competing offer to acquire Sprint.

Dish offers $25.5B for Sprint, outbidding Softbank by $5B to become a wireless player

April 15, 2013 6:12 AM Devindra Hardawar
Devindra Hardawar

It's a takeover that would satisfy the satellite TV company's wireless ambitions, while also squashing takeover efforts by Japan's Softbank.

The DeanBeat: Will Battlefield 4 or Puzzle & Dragons reach $1B in revenues?

March 29, 2013 8:00 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Puzzle & Dragons is generating $2.5 million in revenue a day.

Feds pooh-pooh Softbank/Sprint deal over Chinese hardware fears

March 28, 2013 9:21 AM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Chinese cyber-spying may have soured a $20 billion dollar mobile deal. If Chinese hardware makes its way into U.S. core networks, will the nation be compromised?

Japanese telecom buys majority stake in Puzzle & Dragons developer GungHo

March 27, 2013 12:03 PM Jeffrey Grubb
Jeffrey Grubb

SoftBank dropped $265 million to take 58.5 percent of GungHo Entertainment.

Without iPhone, Japan’s biggest mobile carrier is losing subscribers at a record rate

December 7, 2012 12:48 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Remember when Japanese carrier NTT Docomo was the darling of the wireless world, could do no wrong, and was the subject of every adoring U.S. report on how mobile in Japan rocked in every possible way?

Softbank said to buy out 70 percent of Sprint for $20B

October 14, 2012 3:31 PM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

Softbank is said to be purchasing 70 percent of telecommunications carrier Sprint a deal which may be announced tomorrow. The deal will run Softbank $20 billion.

Hallelujah – Softbank/Sprint makes three

October 12, 2012 12:34 PM Paul Grim

Guest Post Since the announcement yesterday that Japan-based Softbank is making a bid for majority control of Sprint-Nextel, the analysts have been busy churning through the implications. But the simplest and clearest one is this: The US wireless market will no longer be a tightly-controlled duopoly.

Japan’s Softbank reportedly eyeing Sprint for $12.8B (update: Sprint confirms talks)

October 11, 2012 6:39 AM Devindra Hardawar
Devindra Hardawar

Sprint may be courting a takeover offer from Japan's third-largest carrier Softbank.

New smartphone can measure radiation (but not its own)

May 29, 2012 2:31 PM Sarah Mitroff
Sarah Mitroff

You can finally put your radiation fears to rest and check your Twitter feed at the same time. Japanese cellphone carrier Softbank has unveiled a new smartphone that can detect radiation levels with a built-in sensor, Wired is reporting.

Manufactured …

Alibaba may be taking Yahoo’s ball and going home — to the tune of $17B

February 14, 2012 11:15 AM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Due to deal talks breaking down, Yahoo may be losing $17 billion worth of Asian asset sales.

Yahoo, which owns significant stakes in Chinese powerhouse Alibaba and Japan’s SoftBank (as well as Yahoo Japan, natch) was attempting to sell those …

Out of Asia: Yahoo may let go of its Alibaba & SoftBank shares

December 23, 2011 1:57 PM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Oh, how the mighty have fallen: Yahoo is selling back most of its shares in Asian powerhouses Alibaba and SoftBank. It’s even losing Yahoo Japan.

According to reports various publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Yahoo board has decided …

Yahoo considers selling Asian assets, continues fickle CEO search

December 21, 2011 2:57 PM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Yahoo’s board is considering selling its holdings of Alibaba Group and its Japanese affiliate back to the majority owners, a move that would score the company around $17 billion as it tries to find solid footing in troublesome year.

Yahoo …

InMobi raises massive $200M to overtake Google in mobile ads (video)

September 15, 2011 3:00 AM Matt Marshall
Matt Marshall

InMobi, the four-year-old company that is second place globally in mobile advertising, has raised an astonishingly large $200 million round of funding from Softbank Corp.

The company’s goal is overtake Google as the world leader in the category.

InMobi, which …