SoftBank Nears Deal for Data Center Investment Firm DigitalBridge

Group 1 - SoftBank Group Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group Inc., a private equity firm focused on digital infrastructure assets like data centers [1][2] - An announcement regarding the acquisition could be made as soon as Monday, with DigitalBridge's shares rising up to 54% in premarket trading, reflecting a market value of approximately $2.5 billion and an enterprise value of $3.8 billion [2][3] - DigitalBridge, led by CEO Marc Ganzi, manages about $108 billion in assets, including various digital infrastructure operators [4] Group 2 - SoftBank's founder Masayoshi Son aims to leverage the increasing demand for computing capacity essential for AI applications [3] - The company has a history of asset management acquisitions, including the 2017 purchase of Fortress Investment Group for over $3 billion [5] - In January, SoftBank announced a $500 billion project called Stargate to build data centers in the US, although the rollout has faced delays due to various challenges [6][7] Group 3 - Plans for new data center sites in Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio were announced in September, with a projected capacity of 7 gigawatts of power [8]