DigitalBridge shareholders approved SoftBank’s $16-a-share cash acquisition, moving the take-private deal past one of its last major internal hurdles and putting the focus squarely on regulatory clearance and closing execution in the second half of 2026.
At a special meeting on April 23, holders representing about 69% of shares outstanding voted, with roughly 96% of votes cast supporting the transaction, according to the company. The approval gives SoftBank a clear mandate from investors to absorb one of the public market’s few scaled, pure-play digital infrastructure investment platforms.
The strategic logic is straightforward. SoftBank wants more direct exposure to the physical backbone of the AI economy, including data centers, fiber, towers, small cells, and edge infrastructure. DigitalBridge offers exactly that, along with an established asset management engine and relationships with institutional capital. In a market where compute demand is rising faster than power, land, and network capacity can be built, control of infrastructure platforms carries increasing value.
The deal also says something about public markets. Digital infrastructure managers have often argued that listed valuations fail to capture the duration and embedded growth of their assets. SoftBank is effectively underwriting that disconnect. Taking DigitalBridge private gives it room to allocate capital across long-dated buildouts without the quarterly scrutiny that can weigh on listed alternative managers.
Consolidation thesis
This is part of a broader consolidation wave across digital infrastructure and private capital. As AI workloads reshape demand patterns, investors are moving upstream from software and chips into the assets that make those businesses function. That shift favors firms with patient capital, global sourcing reach, and tolerance for regulatory complexity. SoftBank has all three. DigitalBridge adds sector specialization and operating depth.
There are still closing risks. Regulatory approvals remain outstanding, and cross-border scrutiny of infrastructure ownership has only intensified. Even so, the shareholder vote suggests investors see limited upside in standing in the way of a full-cash exit at this stage.
DigitalBridge is set to report first-quarter results on April 28, though it will skip the usual earnings call while the transaction is pending. That silence is typical in signed deals. The bigger message is elsewhere. Infrastructure tied to AI and connectivity is becoming harder to access in public markets and more valuable in private hands.
Source: Company press release and Acquire.fyi's proprietary data
