SoftBank's Masayoshi considered taking firm private: Report

SoftBank Group Corp Chairman Masayoshi Son considered taking the Japanese telecoms group private through a management buyout earlier this year before scrapping the plan at least three months ago, report on Friday.

The billionaire entrepreneur came up with the buyout proposal personally as he sought greater management freedom and as SoftBank's share price slid, Bloomberg said, citing unnamed people with direct knowledge of the plan. Son's deputy, President Nikesh Arora, was aware of the plan, Media cited one of the people as saying.

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment. Shares in the company, with a market value of 7.88 trillion yen (USD 65.2 billion), were down 0.5 percent on Friday, while the broader Tokyo market was flat.

The report said Son had held talks about the buyout with an "overseas partner" but couldn't agree on financing conditions. He then also turned to at least one lender before abandoning the plan, Bloomberg cited the people as saying.

Son said early in August that he had doubts about prospects for unit Sprint Corp earlier in the year, but that he had overcome such doubts as the US carrier showed signs of improvement. SoftBank announced a near USD 1 billion share buyback in August, a move Son attributed to renewed confidence in Sprint.

SoftBank bought Sprint for more than USD 20 billion in 2013.

Son is the biggest shareholder in SoftBank with a 19.3 percent stake.