❯ SoftBank weighs buying security firm Allied Universal at about $18 billion in equity value, eyeing robots

Early stagesAccording to Reuters via The Star, citing a source, SoftBank is considering buying US security services firm Allied Universal in a deal valuing it at about $18 billion, as Bloomberg first reported. Talks are preliminary, no final decisions have been made including on price, and SoftBank declined to comment.

What Allied doesAllied Universal supplies security staff to businesses, venues and major events and is growing in the data center industry. The deal fits Masayoshi Son’s bet on AI and robotics: SoftBank would eventually look to replace some security staff with robots, though humanoid security workers are likely further off, the source said.

A ready-made testbedSoftBank agreed last year to buy ABB’s robotics business for $5.4 billion. Buying a labor-heavy services company gives robots a ready deployment setting and customer network instead of building a market from scratch.

▮ SIGNALCapital betting on robots is starting to buy the industries that employ the most people, so the buyer sets the pace of replacing labor.