Apple is Investing $1 Billion In SoftBank

Apple said Wednesday it plans to invest $1 billion in SoftBank's new technology fund to help finance technologies it could use in the future. From a report: SoftBank has said it is investing at least $25 billion in the fund and has been in talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund for an investment that could go up to $45 billion. "We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple," company spokesman Josh Rosenstock told Reuters. SoftBank has also said that it plans to make future large-scale investments via the tech fund, rather than on its own.

Strategically important

[dimethylxanthine]

Yes, but is it strategically important to the World and the people at large?
What most companies fail to realise in this day and age (and I'm not pointing the finger at Apple here) is that the age of exploitation is over. And unless those people, companies, entities, with their Corporate Social Responsibilities, especially those with the power to influence vast masses, start putting the priorities of the Planet, which has so far given us the privilege - not right - to exist and be making all that $$$, it

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[FreeUser]

Yes, quite carried away. Your exposition is quite naive in thinking that people think in the scope you think they do. The failure to respond has been repeated historically quite a number of times.

And I think your timing of off by 50+ years, nothing will happen until people are really starving.

Nothing will likely happen until the 0.1% are starving, by which time it will be too late to do anything. The only reason to even hold out what little hope there is, is that people like the grandparent are at least th

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[pauljlucas]

... the age of exploitation is over. And unless those people, companies, entities, with their Corporate Social Responsibilities, especially those with the power to influence vast masses, start putting the priorities of the Planet, which has so far given us the privilege - not right - to exist and be making all that $$$, it ain't going to benefit anyone.

You know that, at least in the US, the pro-business Republicans now control the Presidency and both houses of Congress, right? The age of exploitation is j [washingtonpost.com]

Sprint?

[zarmanto]

Potentially interesting context: Softbank owns Sprint. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that might well have a great deal to do with Apple's interest in Softbank...

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[Anonymous Coward]

SoftBank also owns ARM. Although Apple design their own implementations, they're still dependent on the architecture specification.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I came here to say nearly the same thing, except now, every time Apple pays license fees to ARM nee Softbank's ARM division, they'll get a portion of the money back (1/32 at least)

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[EvilSS]

Doubtful. Sprint isn't exactly setting the world on fire these days. Hell if being in the carrier business is the reason, Apple would probably be more influenced by Softbank's Japanese carrier operations. Heck Softbank in Japan has almost as many subscribers as Sprint does in the US (~40 vs ~58 million), in a country with less than half of the US's population.

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[Plumpaquatsch]

Potentially interesting context: Softbank owns Sprint. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that might well have a great deal to do with Apple's interest in Softbank...

Yeah. If this wee an investment in Softbank. But it's an investment in Softbank's new technology fund [ft.com]

Much more interesting is Trump's touting of this fond, considering 45% of the money comes from Saudi Arabia, and what he said about the Saudis during his campaign. But then, he has 3 guys from Goldman Sachs in his cabinet. He doesn't seem to care much about what he said during the campaign.

Banking fees to go as high as 30%

[Joe_Dragon]

But if you buy apple hardware we can cut the loan down to 20% APR.

SoftBank is not a "bank"

[Anonymous Coward]

SoftBank [wikipedia.org] is some kind of technology corporation, so not a bank in the popular sense of the word (memory bank, river bank etc.).

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[asylumx]

I believe they have named themselves after the idea of a "bank of software" very much in the popular sense of the word, which refers to a bank of money. At least that's what they claim on their own website [softbank.jp].

Now I know their strategy...

[fubarrr]

Softbank buys everybody, Apple buys softbank. Voila, antitrust rules subverted

Softbank's Pepper Robot

[QlooQl]

Have any of you seen Pepper the Robot? https://www.ald.softbankroboti... [softbankrobotics.com]