- Softbank posted a profit on its Vision Fund investment in the second quarter of the fiscal year, but posted another quarterly loss.
- The company attributed the Vision Fund gain to a gain on the sale of a stake in the chipmaker arm to a subsidiary of Softbank.
- This offsets the decline in the value of SoftBank’s investments in companies such as Chinese artificial intelligence firm Sentime.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is pictured here during an earnings presentation in 2019.
Tomohiro Ozumi | Getty Images
Softbank posted a profit on its Vision Fund investment in the second quarter of the fiscal year, but posted another quarterly loss.
Here’s how SoftBank did in the September quarter against LSEG estimates:
- Net sales: 1.67 trillion Japanese yen ($11 billion) versus 1.6 trillion yen expected
- Net loss: 931.1 billion yen ($6.2 billion) vs. expected loss of 114.1 billion yen
In the first half of SoftBank’s fiscal year, it posted a loss of 1.41 trillion ($9.3 billion). That compares with a profit of 3 trillion yen in the same period last year. Softbank said the yen hurt the company as it has more US dollar-denominated loans.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund posted an investment gain of 21.3 billion yen, its second-quarter earnings. The company attributed the gain to the sale of shares in the chipmaker arm to a subsidiary of Softbank.
This offset a decline in the value of SoftBank-invested companies such as Chinese artificial intelligence company Senstime.
SoftBank’s flagship technology investment arm had a tough time in the fiscal year ended in March. YEar, posted a loss of around $32 billion. The reason was a slump in tech stock prices and a sour decline in some of SoftBank’s bets in China.
In the June quarter, the Vision Fund posted its first investment gain in five consecutive quarters, again showing early signs of growth. This coincided with a recovery in tech stock prices.
Last year, SoftBank’s top founder Masayoshi Son indicated the company would go into “defense” mode, slowing its investment pace and becoming more cautious. In June, Sun flagged the switch to “crime” mode, expressing his excitement about the potential of artificial intelligence technology.
The chip designer arm went public in the US in the second quarter of SoftBank’s fiscal year. The company acquired Arm in 2016 for about $32 billion. Arm’s initial public offering was over $50 billion.
Correction: The title of this article has been updated to reflect this A quarterly loss of $6.2 billion.
