Elliott rebuilds stake in SoftBank and pushes for $15 billion buyback, FT reports

Elliott Management has rebuilt a stake worth more than $2 billion in SoftBank Group and is pushing the Japanese technology investor to launch a $15 billion share buyback, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The activist investor has engaged directly with Softbank's senior management over the past two to three months, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Elliot believes a share buyback would deliver an immediate boost to the share price and act as a sign of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's confidence in his strategy, FT said. In 2020,

Elliott had built a $3 billion stake in Softbank to push for a $20 billion buyback of its stock. It sold off its stake in 2022 after the Japanese conglomerate revealed plans to buy back about 15 per cent of its shares for about 1 trillion yen ($6.42 billion), according to FT.

Elliott's stake in Softbank builds on its moves to buy stakes in other Japanese firms like Toshiba Corp, Sumitomo Corp and Dai Nippon Printing.

Softbank declined to comment on the FT report. Elliott did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Softbank's share price rose to above 9,500 yen, its highest in three years.