Rakuten Inc. President Hiroshi Mikitani told acquaintances he had a buyer for the Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. subsidiary Yokohama BayStars before he announced his firm's acquisition of a large stake in TBS, sources said Wednesday.
Officials at TBS, which owns a 70 percent stake in the BayStars baseball club, have reacted strongly to the move, saying the broadcaster would not sell the Central League team, the sources said.
Mikitani informed the political and business acquaintances of his plan to sell the club before he revealed on Oct. 13 Rakuten's acquisition of a 15.46 percent stake in TBS and proposed the integration of his Internet business conglomerate and the TV broadcaster under a holding company, according to the sources.