Elliott rebuilds stake in SoftBank and pushes for $15 billion buyback: Report

The U.S. hedge fund expects a buyback to deliver an immediate boost to the and act as a sign of CEO 's confidence in his strategy, the FT said.

Shares in SoftBank jumped more than 5% following the report, before paring gains to end the day up 4.6% at 9,420 yen, the highest in three years.

SoftBank declined to comment on the FT report, while Elliott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2020, Elliott amassed a $3 billion stake in SoftBank and pushed for a $20 billion buyback and improved corporate governance.

SoftBank had embarked on a buyback programme at the time. Elliott later sold off the remainder of its stake in 2022 after the Japanese conglomerate's portfolio was hit by a collapse in tech valuations.

SoftBank's financial position is much stronger than in 2022, thanks to a blockbuster market debut for British chip-designer , in which the Japanese firm holds a 90% stake.

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, from which Arm is expected to benefit, has helped its share price more than double since then, boosting the value of SoftBank's assets after its portfolio of high-growth technology startups fell out of favour with investors.

SoftBank now trades at a large discount to the value of its assets.

Elliott has been active in Japan this year, building stakes in Japan's biggest property group Mitsui Fudosan, and trading company Sumitomo Corp.

Previously, it had called for change at and scandal-hit

($1 = 155.6500 yen)