- October 11, 2024
- 1 second ago
SoftBank Swings to Surprise $6.4B Profit After Four Down Quarters, Arm Stake Nets $16B
Volatile tech conglomerate squashed profit estimates in its most-recent quarter in a move to bring back investor confidence after devastating losses.
SoftBank
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, Masayoshi Son’s tech conglomerate, reported a surprise net profit of ¥950 billion ($6.4 billion) for the December quarter, way ahead of the ¥373 billion expected. The volatile investment giant has finally returned to profitability after four bruising quarters marked by tens of billions of dollars wiped out.
The firm’s flagship tech investment arm, the Vision Fund, made an overall investment gain of ¥600 billion, a stark contrast to the ¥730 billion loss in the year-ago quarter. Shares of the Tokyo-listed company closed up more than 11% on Thursday even before the company had announced its quarterly performance.
The much needed profit is a breath of fresh air for risk-taker Masayoshi Son who has stomached a series of ill-fated ventures, the most recent being a $14 billion failed bet on bankrupt office-sharing company WeWork. Fortunately, a surging valuation of Arm
ARM
chipped in a $16 billion gain for SoftBank, which owns over 90% of the chip designer, leaving only 9.4% of shares to the public.
