Comment on Moody’s Report Related to Unsolicited Ratings
On December 18, 2024, Moody’s Japan K.K. (“Moody’s”) issued a report regarding SoftBank Group Corp. (“SBG”) titled “SoftBank Group Corp. Update following change in outlook to positive from stable, affirmation of Ba3 CFR,” authored by Mariko Semetko and Ryohei Nishio. We reaffirm that SBG has not obtained any credit ratings from Moody’s.
Since withdrawing our request for ratings on March 25, 2020, we have neither provided any information to Moody’s regarding their ratings, nor received any requests for information or inquiries from them for over four and a half years. Moody’s opinions are therefore based solely on their subjective assumptions and hypotheses, with no reasonable factual basis. Since March 2020, we have repeatedly requested that Moody’s remove the unsolicited ratings and change their publication method to avoid any misinterpretation by investors as granted credit ratings.
We have strongly protested this in the past and, once again, reiterate our request that Moody’s immediately cease the publication of unsolicited credit ratings about SBG that fail to reflect our true state.
Moody’s justifies the issuance of unsolicited credit ratings by citing the “benefit of providing information for market participants” and claiming that “sufficient information has been and continues to be available for the assignment and maintenance of its ratings of SBG.” However, discussions with market participants reveal that Moody’s unsolicited credit ratings are not perceived as beneficial information. Moreover, factual inaccuracies in Moody’s analysis further demonstrate that neither of their criteria has been met.
The continued publication of unsolicited ratings by Moody’s over the past four and a half years risks misleading investors in their decision-making processes. SBG is exploring all available options, including the possibility of legal action and consultation with regulatory authority, to address this issue.
Currently, SBG’s credit is rated only by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) and Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCR). SBG will continue to provide S&P and JCR with accurate information necessary for their ratings analyses, such as our management strategy, financial policies, and financing matters, through interviews with our management and other means of communication.
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