Press Releases 2021

Notice of Change in President & CEO

January 26, 2021
SoftBank Corp.

SoftBank Corp. (“The Company”) announces that at its Board of Directors meeting held on January 26, 2021, the Board of Directors made a resolution to change the President & CEO at the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, a voluntary advisory body to the Board of Directors.

1. Resolution Details

Name As of April 1, 2021 Current
Ken Miyauchi Chairman President & CEO
Junichi Miyakawa President & CEO Representative Director & CTO

Masayoshi Son, currently Chairman of the Board of Directors, will be Board Director, Founder as of April 1, 2021.

2. Reasons for the Change

The Company believes that to achieve sustainable growth as a listed company, it needs to make changes to management at appropriate times and pass on the strengths of its current management system to future generations. Regarding the selection of a successor to Ken Miyauchi, the Nominating Committee began deliberations about two years ago, including defining the prerequisites of a successor, and since around the spring of 2020, serious deliberations have been carried out. Junichi Miyakawa has been appointed successor in light of his deep knowledge of cutting-edge technologies and his advanced business management capabilities at a time when the business integration between LINE Corporation and the Company’s subsidiary Z Holdings Corporation will take place and the structure of the SoftBank Corp. Group (“The Group”) will change significantly in the spring of 2021. Junichi Miyakawa will lead the management of the Company as the new President & CEO. Ken Miyauchi, as Chairman, will support Junichi Miyakawa and oversee the entire Group.

Since Ken Miyauchi was appointed President & CEO of the Company in 2015, the Company has grown its core telecommunications business by further strengthening its customer base, serving more than 25 million subscribers through the provision of three brands: SoftBank, Y!mobile and LINE MOBILE, as well as promoting structural reforms to increase management efficiency. In December 2018, the Company was listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and under its “Beyond Carrier” strategy, has established a system to create new businesses by utilizing cutting-edge technologies, including AI, IoT, and FinTech, in collaboration with Group companies and other entities. In June 2019, the Company acquired Yahoo Japan Corporation (currently Z Holdings Corporation), and both companies helped make PayPay, the mobile payment service, one of the largest payment services in Japan with more than 35 million registered users. Through these and other initiatives, the Company is making steady progress in its growth strategy. In March 2021, the business integration between Z Holdings Corporation and LINE Corporation is planned. This merger is expected to transform the Group into a corporate group without global precedent that has a broad range of business domains—telecommunications, e-commerce, Internet media, FinTech, and social media–with established business foundations that will enable a new stage of growth.

Junichi Miyakawa, who has been newly appointed to be President & CEO, has been CTO for many years at the Company and has contributed to its growth as a Board Director in charge of technology. In 2014, he became Technical Chief Operating Officer at Sprint Corporation (currently, T-Mobile U.S. Inc.), and contributed greatly to the dramatic improvement of its telecommunications network and the reconstruction of its business. The Company's Nominating Committee highly evaluates Junichi Miyakawa's deep knowledge of AI, 5G, IoT, and other cutting-edge technologies, as well as his business management capabilities. Prior to joining the Group, he established and ran a telecommunications company himself. After joining the Company, he oversaw the Company's telecommunications infrastructure and technology as a Board Director in charge of technology. In recent years, he has also been operating Group businesses as President and CEO of MONET Technologies Inc., a joint venture with Toyota Motor Corporation, and HAPSMobile Inc., a subsidiary planning to provide next-generation networks from the stratosphere, and has accumulated management experience while deepening his understanding of business strategies and finance. He has also shown his ability to build partnerships with companies in other industries in the course of launching these new businesses, and he has demonstrated leadership backed by his global business experience. Under the leadership of Junichi Miyakawa, the Company will further promote its “Beyond Carrier” strategy while advancing toward its second growth phase, making full use of cutting-edge technologies such as AI and 5G together with its Group companies while striving to achieve sustainable growth of the telecommunications business.

3. Effective Date

April 1, 2021

Career Summary of the Newly Appointed President & CEO

Name
(Date of birth)
Career Summary Numbers of shares owned
Junichi Miyakawa
(December 1, 1965)
December 1991 Representative Director & President, KK Momotaro Internet 475,600 Shares
June 2000 Representative Director & President, Nagoya Metallic Communications Corp. (currently the Company)
January 2002 Representative Director & President, Tokyo Metallic Communications Corp. (currently the Company)
January 2002 Representative Director & President, Osaka Metallic Communications Corp. (currently the Company)
April 2002 Representative Director & President, DTH Marketing Corp. (currently the Company)
August 2003 Director, SOFTBANK BB Corp. (currently the Company)
April 2006 Director & Executive Vice President (CTO), Vodafone K.K. (currently the Company)
June 2007 Director, Executive Vice President & CTO, the Company
November 2014 Director & Senior Managing Corporate Officer, the Company
November 2014 Technical Chief Operating Officer, Sprint Corporation
April 2015 Senior Managing Director, the Company
August 2015 Senior Technical Advisor, Sprint Corporation
April 2017 Senior Managing Director & CTO, the Company
December 2017 President & CEO, HAPSMobile Inc. (to present)
April 2018 Representative Director & CTO, Technology Unit Head and Technology Strategy Unit Head, the Company (to present)
January 2019 President & CEO, MONET Technologies Inc. (to present)