SoftBank and its ARM in 2022

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Abstract

In mid-July 2022, Masayoshi Son, the Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank had to decide upon the best way to monetize its ownership of ARM after a proposed merger with Nvidia failed in February 2022 due to regulatory challenges. The plans for an IPO in London had to be shelved after the collapse of the UK government in early July. At the same time, SoftBank was in a precarious financial position due to large losses from its private equity Vision Fund investments, and the Nasdaq IPO market had dried up in 2022. Son had to consider heightened uncertainty as well as SoftBank's own financial pressures when making his decision on how to monetise Arm.

Additional Information

Product Type Case
Reference No. F&A0579
Title SoftBank and its ARM in 2022
Pages 17
Published on Jul 31, 2025
Year of Event 2020-2022
Authors Agarwalla, Sobhesh Kumar; Varma, Jayanth R.; Virmani, Vineet;
Area Finance and Accounting (F&A)
Discipline Finance, Strategic Management
Sector Telecom and Software
Learning Objective 1. Evaluate the benefits of an IPO relative to selling to strategic or financial buyers. 2. Appreciate the issues involved in choosing a listing venue for an IPO. 3. Analyse the business of ARM and formulate the narrative that SoftBank would have to build about ARM during the IPO process, and apply standard financial models to arrive at a valuation of ARM. 4. Formulate an IPO strategy for ARM including timing, venue, issue size and indicative IPO valuation.
Keywords SoftBank; ARM; Initial Public Offering; Masayoshi Son; Nvidia; Vision Fund
Country United States
Organization SoftBank and ARM
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