Softbank unloads most of its 4 percent stake in Yahoo
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20097919-93/softbank-unloads-most-of-its-4-percent-stake-in-yahoo/?part=rss&subj=latest-news&tag=image"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/08/26/yahoo_purple_small-prv.jpg" alt="" /></a></div><p>Softbank has agreed to repay a $1.135 billion loan to Citigroup by selling most of its 4 percent stake in Yahoo.</p> <p> The Japanese Web and telecom company said in <a href="http://www.softbank.co.jp/en/news/press/2011/20110826_01/" >a press release</a> that it plans to transfer its Yahoo shares to Citigroup as repayment for a 2004 loan. After unloading the stock, Softbank has reduced its Yahoo stake to just 0.002 percent.</p><p> The original agreement called for Softbank to repay the loan with either cash or the Yahoo stock. With Yahoo's shares tanking since the deal was signed, Softbank netted a huge profit on the deal. The shares it returned to Citi are worth about $660 million, leading Softbank to record a one-time gain of $994 million, the difference between the price it paid in 1995 for its Yahoo stake and the current value of the loan.</p><p> The sale will close in late September.</p><p> In a statement, Yahoo downplayed the significance of Softbank's decision to sell the stock, saying it was part of the terms of the 2004 loan agreement.</p><p> "The loan involved a forward contract that would be settled by delivering shares of Yahoo! to Citibank upon maturity," Yahoo said in a statement.</p><p> Of course, Softbank could have also repaid the loan with cash, but chose not to because the value of those Yahoo shares had sunk so considerably since 2004.</p><p> Softbank and Yahoo have both been embroiled in ... <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20097919-93/softbank-unloads-most-of-its-4-percent-stake-in-yahoo/?part=rss&subj=latest-news&tag=readMore">[Read more]</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnet/tcoc/~4/92FDyYwIOOk" height="1" width="1"/> [More]