DigitalBridge manages more than $100bn worth of assets, including data centres, cellular telecom towers and fibre-optic cable networks. <\/p>\n
Son said the acquisition would \u201cstrengthen the foundation for next-generation AI data centres\u201d as he pursues what he calls \u201cartificial super intelligence\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs AI transforms industries worldwide, we need more compute, connectivity, power and scalable infrastructure,\u201d said Son. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe build-out of AI infrastructure represents one of the most significant investment opportunities of our generation,\u201d said Marc Ganzi, DigitalBridge\u2019s chief executive. <\/p>\n
A veteran telecoms industry dealmaker, Ganzi previously founded Global Tower Partners, a US telecoms infrastructure group, which was sold for $4.8bn in 2013. <\/p>\n
SoftBank plans to acquire DigitalBridge for $16 per share in cash, a 15 per cent premium to its closing price on Friday, the companies said. The deal gives DigitalBridge an enterprise value of roughly $4bn including debt.<\/p>\n
DigitalBridge was founded in 1991 under the name Colony Capital by Tom Barrack, an early financial backer of US President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n
Barrack, who now serves as the US ambassador to Turkey, in 2019 oversaw the acquisition of the data centre investor Digital Bridge for $325mn. He stepped down in 2021 as executive chair and the company changed its name to DigitalBridge as it pivoted away from traditional real estate to focus on digital infrastructure investments.<\/p>\n
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, if it receives the necessary regulatory approvals. Ganzi would continue to run DigitalBridge as a \u201cseparately managed platform\u201d, the companies said.<\/p>\n
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Shares in SoftBank have almost doubled in value over the course of 2025 as Son\u2019s AI dealmaking has accelerated. However, the stock has lost a third of its value in the past two months, amid concerns about a bubble in the AI sector and SoftBank\u2019s ability to finance its huge investment in OpenAI. In early November, SoftBank sold its entire stake<\/a> in AI chipmaker Nvidia for $5.8bn to fund its dealmaking. <\/p>\n SoftBank\u2019s chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto said last month that the group would need to \u201cdivest our existing portfolios\u201d to fund more than $30bn of anticipated investment in OpenAI. <\/p>\n But that has not reined in Son\u2019s dealmaking. SoftBank in October agreed a $5.4bn deal to buy ABB\u2019s robotics arm and has discussed expanding its investment in UK-based autonomous driving start-up Wayve, the Financial Times has reported<\/a>. Son also agreed to invest $2bn in troubled Silicon Valley chipmaker Intel, in the latest demonstration of his alliance with Trump. <\/p>\n Large investment firms have been focused on building up their data centre portfolios to get in on the AI boom, with several investors ultimately buying up specialist data centre owners, given the difficulty of building these portfolios from scratch. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ft.com%2Fv3%2Fimage%2Fraw%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%252Fproduction%252Ff158876a-adbf-472a-99f3-f51c4b5baf67.jpg%3Fsource%3Dnext-article%26fit%3Dscale-down%26quality%3Dhighest%26width%3D700%26dpr%3D1?source=next&fit=scale-down&dpr=2&width=240\")
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