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SoftBank is reportedly in early talks to buy Allied Universal — America’s largest security-services company — at an equity value of up to $18B, with Masayoshi Son eyeing their guard posts as future robot jobs.
The details:
- Allied is the largest U.S. security-guard firm, staffing offices, venues, events, and NYC’s subway, plus a growing data-center business.
- Talks are preliminary, with no price agreed. Adding Allied’s ~$12B debt could reportedly push the total transaction to near $30B.
- Son reportedly sees security as a test bed for robotics tech from SoftBank’s companies, and would eventually replace some staff with robots for security work.
- Allied would sit alongside its agreement last year to buy ABB’s robotics business for $5.4B; recent SoftBank deals also include Gravis Robotics at $200M.
Why it matters: With around 770K employees across more than 100 countries, Allied could give SoftBank a vast customer network for future security robots. The idea is that robots will eventually become capable and reliable enough to take on some of that work, at a cost Allied’s clients are willing to pay.