Yeah, I'm confused as well. SoftBank could have done things the UK didn't like. They've owned ARM since mid 2016.

Probably a couple reasons why it's coming up now. First the Japanese have a pretty good reputation as owners of UK businesses, they own quite a few Scotch distilleries and impressions are they manage things well.

Second, I think the world feels a lot more protectionist nowadays vs when the original buyout happened. I know it wasn't that long ago but the trade war tariffs between the US and China sort of set the tone.

The level of anxiety about capital and industrial flight in the UK is also much higher due to Brexit.

Sounds like the story with Volvo Cars. Ford sold it to Geely, but it was like it was sold to a foreign owner in the first place.

SoftBank is a financial investor, bankers, so they can have influence, but it's more like having 'a single public investor' instead of a bunch of them.

NVIDIA is another ballgame entirely, it's a corporation in the space, meaning some kind of merger on some kind of scale.

But to quote the article: Softbank [...] agreed to legally binding commitments to increase investment, headcount and preserve its headquarters in the UK.