Softbank will retain a 25% stake in Brightstar
Softbank is selling Brightstar, the Miami-based cell phone distributor that it purchased in 2014, to the private equity firm of Brightstar Capital Partners (BCP), which will acquire a majority stake of the company at 75%, while Softbank will retain a 25% stake.
Brightstar was founded in 1997 by former Sprint CEO and Chairman Marcelo Claure, who is now COO of SoftBank Group.
In a statement, Claure said he is “incredibly proud of what Brightstar has accomplished over the years” and “the company has grown tremendously and become a leader of end-to-end device lifecycle solutions.”
“SoftBank looks forward to partnering with BCP as Brightstar enters into its next phase of growth,” he added.
“Our partnership with BCP provides us with additional resources and relationships to foster our continued growth and capitalize on the vast market opportunities in mobility and handset protection,” commented Rod Millar, CEO of Brightstar. “We are excited to join forces with such a proven team to further enhance our service offerings and expand our market leadership.”
While the purchase price was not disclosed in the announcement, the deal is expected to close sometime before March 31, 2021.
In even bigger news, SoftBank last week made headlines for selling chip company Arm to Nvidia for $40 billion. Regulators in the U.K., European Union, China and the U.S. need to sign-off on the terms, a process that NVIDIA said could take about 18 months.
A Chinese state media outlet called Nvidia’s purchase of Arm ‘disturbing,’ saying the deal would put China at a disadvantage.
“The mere possibility that British chip designer Arm may become a U.S. subsidiary is disturbing for not only Chinese technology companies but also a large number of European companies using Arm’s technology,” an op-ed on the subject said.
