Softbank Corp. Closes $80 Million Investment in Global Sports
GLOBAL SPORTS, INC. (NASDAQ: GSPT) today announced the closing and funding of the previously disclosed $80 million strategic investment by SOFTBANK Corp. following approval of the transaction by a majority of Global Sports, Inc. shareholders and expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The investment was made through the newly formed SOFTBANK Capital Partners LP fund, which in addition to SOFTBANK Corp., includes investors such as Yahoo!, E*Trade, Vivendi, S.A. and the epartners Capital Ltd. subsidiary of News Corp. Following the close of the transaction, SOFTBANK Corp. owns approximately 30% of Global Sports, Inc. common shares.
Masayoshi Son, Chairman of SOFTBANK Corp. stated “It is with great enthusiasm that SOFTBANK officially begins its relationship with Global Sports, Inc. Michael and his team have made tremendous progress in a very short period of time and we look forward to participating in the long-term development of the company.”
Michael Rubin, Chairman and CEO of Global Sports, Inc., commented, “We are excited to complete the SOFTBANK transaction. The combination of their significant capital resources and strategic value provide enormous benefits to our business. We continue to work diligently with our partners, The Sports Authority, The Athlete’s Foot, Sport Chalet, MC Sports and Sports & Recreation toward the launch of our initial six e-commerce web-sites and remain on track to meet our goal of opening these new e-tail locations in the fourth quarter of 1999. We are also very enthusiastic about the excitement being generated by our breakthrough e-commerce model for the sporting goods category and continue to focus on our objective of becoming the leading e-commerce sporting goods company.”
Global Sports, Inc. (http://www.GS-Interactive.com), through its Global Sports Interactive Division is an e-Commerce company that has entered into exclusive agreements to operate the Internet businesses of multiple sporting goods retailers, including The Sports Authority through an e-Commerce partnership agreement, and The Athlete’s Foot, Sport Chalet, MC Sports, Sports & Recreation and one unnamed retailer with annual sales of more than $200 million, through e-Commerce outsourcing contracts. The partnership with The Sports Authority is initially 80.1% owned by Global Sports, Inc. and 19.9% owned by The Sports Authority, with options for The Sports Authority to increase its ownership in the partnership to 49.9% over time. Global Sports, Inc. is approximately 30% owned by SOFTBANK Corp. and its shares are included in the Russell 2000 index.
SOFTBANK Corp. (http://www.softbank.co.jp.com), is a leading provider of information and distribution services for the digital information industry. In Japan, SOFTBANK is the largest distributor of software and computer technology publications. In the United States, SOFTBANK owns approximately 72 percent of Ziff Davis, Inc. (NYSE: ZD), 28 percent of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), 27 percent of E*Trade Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGRP) and 30% of Global Sports, Inc.
Note: The current Web sites operated by GSI’s partners have not been built by GSI and are not operated by GSI. These Web sites will be replaced by ones built by GSI at a later date in 1999.
Contact:
Michael R. Conn
Senior Vice President Strategic Development
(610) 768-0900
Connm@Globalsportsinc.com
