SoftBank’s shares jump 7% on buyout debate report

SoftBank Group Corp shares jumped as much as 7 per cent on Wednesday after Bloomberg News reported that the group was considering buying back shares to boost CEO Masayoshi Son’s stake so he could squeeze out remaining investors.

SoftBank’s shares are seen as chronically undervalued by company executives, with debate around the benefits of a buyout intensifying as they plunged to lows in March.

Record share buybacks and a string of asset sales have driven a 180 per cent share price gain since then, giving the group a market capitalization of around $140 billion and raising the hurdle for a buyout.

SoftBank was not immediately reachable for comment.