Former Google head of business Nikesh Arora is likely to take over as the president of SoftBank.
According to the Techcrunch web site, he will replace current CEO Masayoshi Son as the chairman of Yahoo Japan's board of directors.
SoftBank currently holds a 43 percent stake in Yahoo Japan.
Son will remain on the board of directors, with Arora taking over as the chairman.
His ascendancy at SoftBank may mean the company will make more investments in the U.S. beyond its majority stake in Sprint, which it bought in 2013 but has yet to see pay off.
Arora played a key role in SoftBank's recent funding of event data analysis company Banjo, one of its largest in a U.S. startup so far.
Son said at a press conference that he doesn't plan to "retire soon," but sees Arora as likely successor.