Japanese Investment Puts Value on Idealab

Idealab received an investment last month that values the Pasadena Internet business incubator at $7.46 billion. Hikari Tsushin, a Tokyo-based telecommunications firm, paid $100 million for a 1.34% stake in Idealab to “pursue financial and strategic opportunities,” according to a notice released by the firm. The investment has already begun to pay off: Hikari Tsushin is preparing to launch a joint venture with an Idealab firm, Intranets.com of Woburn, Mass. The venture, Intranets Inc., will open a business-oriented Web portal for Japan on March 1. Hikari Tsushin’s Idealab investment gives outside investors an idea of what Idealab thinks its shares will be worth when it files for an initial public offering, which is expected soon. Idealab’s stakes in its five publicly traded offspring alone are now worth about $1.2 billion. A spokeswoman for Idealab declined to comment on the Hikari Tsushin investment.