SoftBank Chairman Considered Taking Company Private

Billionaire Masayoshi Son considered a management buyout of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. earlier this year and entered talks with an overseas partner, according to people with direct knowledge of the plan.

Son had talks with at least one lender before scrapping the plan at least three months ago when he couldn’t agree with the overseas partner on financing conditions, the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak on the matter. While it was the top possible deal earlier this year, Son is no longer considering using that partner, the people said without elaborating.