SoftBank weighs $18 billion acquisition of Allied Universal, Bloomberg News reports

Oct 16 — SoftBank Group is considering an acquisition of Allied Universal in ​a deal that could value the US security services provider at about $18 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, ‌citing people familiar with the matter.

• Allied Universal provides security staffing for businesses, ⁠venues and major events, and ​has a growing presence in ⁠the data center industry, supporting both development and operation ‌of facilities

• The potential ‌acquisition would complement SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's increasing focus ⁠on AI, as he is ⁠exploring the use of AI-powered robots across industries, and looking to strengthen the infrastructure needed to support the technology, according to the report

• With Allied, SoftBank would look to eventually replace some staff with robots to handle security ‌work, the report said, citing one ​of the people

• The application of humanoid-like security workers will likely take more time, it reported citing another person

• Deliberations are preliminary and no final decisions have been made, including on the potential price, the report said

• SoftBank declined to comment on the report, while Allied Universal did ​not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment

• SoftBank is ‌widely known for ‌making ⁠large technology investments through its Vision Fund. It was an early investor in Alibaba, owns a majority stake in Arm, and was a major backer of the office-sharing startup WeWork

• In ‌October, SoftBank completed the ​final phase of its planned $30 ‌billion investment in OpenAI, ⁠deepening its ​commitment to the AI company

(Reporting by Apratim Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Shilpi Majumdar)

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