is a Japanese telecommunications and Internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses. SoftBank was established in Tokyo, Japan, on September 3, 1981, and had a market capitalization of approximately ¥9.53 trillion (approx. $92 billion) on April 1, 2014, making it the 86th largest company in the world by market capitalization. Between 2009 and 2014, SoftBank’s market capitalization increased by 557%, the fourth largest relative increase in the world over that period. SoftBank’s corporate profile includes various other companies such as Japanese broadband company SoftBank BB, data center company IDC Frontier, gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment, and the publishing company SB Creative. Additionally, it has various partnerships in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies such as Yahoo!, E-Trade, Ustream.tv, EF Education First and Morningstar. SBI Group is a Japanese financial services company that began in 1999 as a branch of SoftBank. SoftBank was the only official carrier of the iPhone in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S when it became available on au by KDDI as well. On July 6, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank’s acquisition of Sprint for $22.2 billion for a 78% ownership interest in Sprint. The acquisition involved payment of $17.2 billion in cash to Sprint shareholders, with the balance $5 billion as capital contribution. The transaction was financed by the way of cash and a bridge loan from a consortium of banks.