Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank has received permission from its board of directors to acquire a controlling stake in GungHo Entertainment, which literally blew up the cash tops of mobile app stores with the Puzzle & Dragons game.
SoftBank is buying GungHo shares from Asia Groove for ¥25 billion ($265 million). Previously, SoftBank had a 33.6% stake, and after the transaction is completed, it will increase to 58.5% and, thus, GungHo will become a division of this company.
According to SoftBank representatives, the acquisition of GungHo is carried out as part of a strategy aimed at becoming the No. 1 company in the Japanese mobile Internet market. It has set itself the goal of achieving an operating profit of ¥1 trillion by March 2017.