Yahoo Japan shares surge after $3.2bn Access deal cancelled

Shares in Internet giant Yahoo Japan surged in Tokyo on Tuesday morning after it cancelled plans to buy domestic telecom company eAccess from its parent SoftBank Corp. in a deal that was valued at about $3.2 billion. The stock jumped 9.97 percent to 452 yen at about 10:00 am (0100 GMT), after it climbed to an intraday high of 471 yen, or 14.59 percent higher than the previous day in the opening minutes of trade. 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 smartphones 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.