TOKYO -- A Japanese entrepreneur crowned himself the king of American computer trade shows yesterday, as his company agreed to pay $800 million in cash to buy the organization that runs the huge annual Comdex exhibition.
While analysts say the price is high, the buyer, Softbank Corp., Japan's leading distributor of software and publisher of computer magazines, is acquiring a prestigious entree into the U.S. computer world. Comdex, which is held each November in Las Vegas, is traditionally the biggest showcase for new hardware and software technologies.
The deal is part of a recent aggressive expansion by Masayoshi Son, 37, the founder and president of Softbank, which last fall announced the acquisition for $202 million of the trade-show business of Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.
Under the agreement announced yesterday, Softbank is buying the computer trade-show business from the Interface Group Inc., based in Needham, Mass.
Analysts and industry executives estimated that the organization being sold had revenue of $150 million a year or more and that Comdex, at least, was highly profitable.