Softbank defeats rival bid for Vodafone's Japanese unit.

"Softbank, the Tokyo-based Internet company, will buy Vodafone's Japanese cellphone unit in a deal worth $15.4 billion, the companies said Friday, ending the British mobile giant's bruising foray into one of the world's largest and toughest markets... The sale will also create a new communications giant in Japan by giving Softbank and its billionaire chief executive, Masayoshi Son, control of the country's third-largest mobile carrier with 15 million subscribers."