SoftBank agrees to acquire Boston Dynamics from Alphabet

Background

Boston Dynamics is an American robotics company. Google acquired it in 2013, and, according to Xinhua, Google had been seeking a buyer after disagreements over the company's research direction.^[2] By the time the sale was announced, the seller was named as Alphabet Inc.^[1]

The announcement

On 9 June 2017, SoftBank Group announced that a subsidiary had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Boston Dynamics from Alphabet Inc.^[1] A definitive agreement is a signed contract that sets out the terms of a deal; it is stronger than a letter of intent, but signing it does not by itself mean that ownership has already changed hands. The announcement said the transaction was subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, which means regulators can still review the deal before it closes.^[1]

SoftBank did not disclose the terms of the transaction.^[1] The price, the payment arrangements and any conditions attached to the sale were therefore not part of the public announcement.

A second company in the same deal

The agreement with Alphabet covered more than one company. SoftBank also agreed to acquire Schaft, a Japanese company working on bipedal robots.^[1] Schaft was founded in 2012 in the JSK Robotics Laboratory at the University of Tokyo.^[1] Bipedal robots — machines that walk on two legs — are a distinct branch of robotics: unlike a wheeled platform, a walking robot has to keep its balance continuously, which makes control and actuation much harder. Acquiring Boston Dynamics and Schaft in one transaction brought an American robotics company and a Japanese bipedal-robotics team under the same owner.

What the two sides said

Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, described smart robotics as a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution.^[1] "Smart robotics" generally refers to machines that use sensors and computation to act with less step-by-step instruction, as opposed to equipment that repeats a fixed motion. The phrase "Information Revolution" is a general label for the changes brought by computing and networks; using it here placed robotics in that same line of development. Marc Raibert, CEO and founder of Boston Dynamics, said the company was excited to be part of SoftBank's vision.^[1]

Both statements are short and forward-looking. Neither describes specific products or plans, and the announcement gave no timetable for what either company would do under its new owner.

What changed

The most concrete change was ownership: Boston Dynamics moved from Alphabet to SoftBank, and Schaft moved with it.^[1] Because the deal was conditional on regulatory approvals,^[1] the announcement of 9 June 2017 was a commitment rather than a completed transfer. For anyone following the company, the announcement also settled a question that had been open since Google's acquisition in 2013 — who would own Boston Dynamics next.^[2] The terms were not disclosed,^[1] so the financial size of the transaction, and the price paid for either company, cannot be read from the public announcement.