SoftBank Pulls Back on Media Stakes

A little more than a year ago, after a couple of big bets on entertainment companies, SoftBank had positioned itself as an aggressive investor in Hollywood and digital media. There was even talk of SoftBank buying DreamWorks Animation. But today the Japanese company appears to be in retreat from Hollywood.

SoftBank announced last week it had sold DramaFever, a video streaming service it bought in 2014, to Warner Bros. And it will sell its stake in movie and TV production firm Legendary Entertainment, which was also bought in late 2014, as a result of Wanda Group’s pending acquisition of Legendary.