- M&A
- December 29, 2025
- 3 minutes read
SoftBank To Buy Data Center Firm DigitalBridge For $4B
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank (TYO: 9984) has struck a deal to acquire DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG), a U.S.-based data center…
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank (TYO: 9984) has struck a deal to acquire DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG), a U.S.-based data center and telecoms infrastructure investor. SoftBank will pay $16 in cash per share, totaling $2.9bn. It’ll also assume DigitalBridge’s liabilities, pushing the deal’s value to $4bn.
- SoftBank’s offer represents a 15% premium to DigitalBridge’s share price on Friday, the last trading day before the announcement.
DigitalBridge invests in data centers, fiber networks, and cell towers that are leased to external clients. It manages $108bn of assets, making it one of the world’s largest digital infrastructure investors. The company was founded in 1991 as Colony Capital, a real estate investment firm. It invested in major hotels, resorts, and casinos before selling its real estate assets in 2021 and rebranding to DigitalBridge with a focus on digital infrastructure.
Colony Capital was founded by Tom Barrack, a prominent American investor and political fundraiser. He stepped down in 2021 following the rebrand to DigitalBridge. Barrack is currently the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria.
- DigitalBridge is currently led by chief executive Marc Ganzi. Before joining the firm, he founded Global Tower Partners, a cell tower operator that sold for $4.8bn in 2013.
SoftBank has positioned itself as a major digital infrastructure investor in the artificial intelligence (AI) age. In early 2025, it pledged to invest $500bn in data centers with OpenAI and Oracle under the Stargate project, but not much has materialized from that pledge to date.
Separately, in April 2025, SoftBank invested $10bn in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, out of a total $40bn commitment. Acquiring DigitalBridge gives SoftBank control over valuable data center assets leased to technology companies that run AI systems. DigitalBridge has data centers across the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa, and several European countries.
- Barring regulatory hurdles, SoftBank expects the acquisition to close in the second half of 2026. Post-acquisition, Ganzi will remain DigitalBridge’s chief executive, SoftBank said in a statement.
