Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank, said that the Japanese conglomerate is most likely to list Arm on Nasdaq, a US stock exchange. The CEO emphasized that the decision has not been made yet.
SoftBank is the owner of Arm, one of the world’s largest chip designers. In an attempt to cover the losses of a series of bad investments, SoftBank tried to sell Arm to Nvidia. Antitrust authorities blocked the deal in 2022. SoftBank decided to list Arm on a stock exchange instead. The government of the UK, Arm’s country of origin, has been attempting to convince SoftBank to list in London. SoftBank, however, seemingly has other plans.
During the company’s annual general meeting, CEO Masayoshi Son stated that most of Arm’s clients are located in Silicon Valley and that the American stock markets would “love to have Arm”. Son stated that there were proposals to list Arm in London, but did not specify from whom. “Nasdaq is the favourite”, he declared.
The billionaire focused a large portion of his address on the commercial opportunities for Arm, which the firm has converted to listing after an agreed-upon sale to Nvidia fell through. Before being purchased by SoftBank in 2016 for $32 billion, the Cambridge-based company had a primary listing in Britain and a secondary listing in the United States.
SoftBank under pressure
With SoftBank’s Vision Fund business posting a record loss in May, Son is facing pressure from shareholders as the values of the high-growth firms he favours decline along with investment goals and interest rates.
SoftBank’s stock has decreased by around a third since last year’s annual general meeting. Son urged investors to look at the firm in the long term. Son cited a Japanese proverb: “Peaches and chestnuts take three years, and persimmons take eight years, even fruit takes that long. I’m confident if you wait five to 10 years, there will be something delicious.”
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