Deals
SoftBank Unit Invests $125 Million in Google's Loon Balloons
- Deal links futuristic aircraft for stratospheric telco network
- SoftBank’s HAPSMobile takes stake in a Google-born project
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One of the most improbable ideas from Google’s eccentric co-founders -- using high-altitude balloons to provide internet connections -- is getting a boost from another unconventional technology mogul.
An affiliate of Masayoshi Son’s telecom company SoftBank Corp. is investing $125 million in Loon, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc. The SoftBank unit and Loon will share technology and ground stations, and form "an alliance to promote the use of high altitude communications solutions with regulators and officials worldwide," according to a statement from the two companies.