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SoftBank Invests US$250 Million in Legendary Pictures
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank announced on Thursday that it will invest US$250 million in Thomas Tull's Legendary Pictures studio. The deal is set to close at the end of the month. The company has the option to invest more, for a total of US$1 billion, by 2018. Vice chairman Nikesh Arora will be appointed to Legendary's board of directors.
Tull released the following statement on SoftBank's investment:
[Founder and CEO] Masayoshi Son has built SoftBank into one of the world's most respected companies. With the arrival of Nikesh and the launch of SIMI, they have a great opportunity to extend their reach into media and entertainment. We are excited to be one of SIMI's first partners and look forward to working together to deliver the next phase of Legendary's growth.
SoftBank acquired Sprint for US$21.6 billion in 2013 and owns a $72.3 billion stake in e-commerce group Alibaba. However, investors in SoftBank saw the corporation's stock fall about one percent on Monday because of the uncertainty over the DreamWorks Animation bid. According to The Hollywood Reporter, SoftBank's bid to acquire DreamWorks Animation failed to result in a deal.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
