Arm CEO to Join SoftBank’s board as Landmark IPO approaches

SoftBank Group Corp. has nominated Arm Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas to its board, underscoring the British chip designer’s importance ahead of its highly anticipated initial public offering.

The Japanese company will put Haas up for election at its shareholders’ meeting on June 21, replacing outgoing director and Z Holdings Corp. chairperson Kentaro Kawabe. All eight other existing directors will continue to serve, SoftBank said in a statement.

The move puts Arm front-and-center in SoftBank’s portfolio at a time Masayoshi Son’s company is struggling with crumbling valuations across its more internet-oriented investments, from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to WeWork Inc. and Korea’s Coupang Inc.

Arm is one of the most critical chip firms in the world, whose designs power almost every smartphone on the planet. Global investment banks are pitching a yawning range of valuations for the UK designer, from $30 billion to $70 billion, in one of the most highly coveted tech deals in years.

SoftBank founder Son has pinned high hopes on the prospects for Arm, saying at one point that he expects the firm to pull off the biggest IPO for a chipmaker ever. But the British firm is contending with volatile valuations in a year of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. Bloomberg