The Japanese tech and investment giant, SoftBank Group Corp., is reportedly nearing an agreement to purchase DigitalBridge Group Inc., a private investment company focused on digital infrastructure assets, such as data centers, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The agreement is not yet set, and its terms and conditions could be altered, these sources indicated. SoftBank may publicize the agreement shortly; both entities chose not to offer any comments.
SoftBank’s interest in DigitalBridge aligns with the plan of founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who aims to take advantage of the increasing need for processing capability that supports the advancement of artificial intelligence. DigitalBridge shares experienced a 54% increase in premarket trading in New York following the announcement. The firm’s shares have risen by approximately 23% year-to-date, resulting in a market capitalization around $2.5 billion and a total enterprise value of $3.8 billion, inclusive of debt.
DigitalBridge, under the leadership of CEO Mark Ganzi, oversaw roughly $108 billion in assets as of the end of September. The company’s collection of assets includes digital infrastructure businesses like AIMS, AtlasEdge, DataBank, Switch, Vantage Data Centers, and Yondr Group.
SoftBank has a history of major asset management transactions. Back in 2017, the corporation acquired Fortress Investment Group for exceeding $3 billion, and in 2024, they divested their ownership to an investor group consisting of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and Fortress Management.
This past January, SoftBank, along with OpenAI, Oracle, and the Abu Dhabi-based investment entity MGX, declared the creation of a large-scale $500 billion Stargate venture to create data centers across the U.S. Despite Masayoshi Son’s pledge to immediately invest $100 billion, the undertaking has faced delays owing to discussions regarding site selection and market instability.
In September, Stargate Partners unveiled intentions to establish five fresh sites in Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio, providing an overall capacity reaching 7 gigawatts — akin to the electrical usage of entire cities. Concurrently, SoftBank has been compelled to reorganize its holdings to release funds for AI investments: Son mentioned this month that he had disposed of a $5.8 billion share in Nvidia to allocate resources to other AI-linked sectors.