Yahoo Japan shares surge after it cancelled $3.2 billion eAccess deal

Tokyo: Shares in Internet giant Yahoo Japan surged in Tokyo on Tuesday after it cancelled plans to buy domestic telecom company eAccess from its parent SoftBank Corp. in a $3.2 billion deal. The stock jumped 11.67 per cent to close at 459 yen, after it rose nearly 15 percent in early trading.

In March, Yahoo's Japanese unit -- whose top shareholder is SoftBank -- announced the deal which it said was aimed at growing the firm's Internet services business through smart phones and tablets. But on Monday, Yahoo Japan said it had called off the merger after concluding it was more effective to operate the two firms independently.

The deal had been scheduled to be completed in early June, when eAccess is set to merge with telecom company Willcom Inc., also a member of the SoftBank group. That deal is still scheduled to go ahead.