Japanese telecom Softbank and Japanese mobile publisher GungHo Online Entertainment will take a 51 per cent stake in Finnish mobile developer Supercell in a deal worth US1.5 billion, Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen announced today.
“This new partnership will accelerate Supercell towards our goal of being the first truly global games company, and gives us enough time to get there,” said Paananen in a statement. “The strategic investment from SoftBank helps us to accelerate towards our goal in two different ways; SoftBank provides us with a massive selection of strategic resources that will help us deliver our games to hundreds of millions of new consumers all over the globe (and) SoftBank is all about the long term.”
Softbank increased the telecom giant’s stake in GungHo, the creators of the mobile hit Puzzle and Dragons, to 58 per cent last March. Supercell is the developer of the popular mobile titles Clash of Clans and Hay Day.
“In our quest to become the number one mobile Internet company, we scour the globe in search of interesting opportunities,” said Softbank founder Masayoshi Son, according to Paananen’s statement online. “And right now some of the most exciting companies and innovations are coming out of Finland. Supercell is one of those rare and special companies.”
Son also commented on Softbank’s relationship with GungHo, “This new partnership also takes our collaboration with our good friends at GungHo to the next level. We are super excited to have them participate in this investment by putting in 20 per cent of the total amount. We’ve had a great collaboration between Puzzle & Dragons and Clash of Clans. They’re an amazing bunch of people, and they have a terrific culture.”
