NTT Launches $16.5 Billion Buyout of AI Arm in Streamlining Push

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. plans to take over NTT Data Group Corp. in a deal worth ¥2.37 trillion ($16.5 billion), broadening its AI ambitions while heeding regulators’ calls for Japanese conglomerates to streamline unwieldy structures.

The country’s biggest telecom operator is offering ¥4,000 per share for all the stock it doesn’t own in NTT Data — a 34% premium to its previous close. The tender will take place from May 9 to June 19, with NTT Data to delist thereafter if the deal goes ahead. Its shares surged their daily limit of 17% in Tokyo to their highest in 25 years, while stock in parent NTT slid 2.1%.