SoftBank profit jumps 49% as it monetises investments
Group’s investments are now worth $32.5b on the rising value of its various stakes
Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp reported a 49 per cent jump in quarterly profit yesterday, boosted by the sale of its stake in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart in the first public divestment by the conglomerate’s massive Vision Fund.
SoftBank, which is planning to list its domestic telecoms business, also said profit was bolstered by the sale of most of the Chinese operations of chip design unit ARM Holdings.
The sales are the first signs of SoftBank monetising its investments after pumping billions of dollars into technology companies around the world yet taking little profit.
Its Vision Fund is the world’s largest private equity fund, raising over $93 billion (Dh341 billion) at its first major close in May last year. The fund, which is yet to complete its final close, had invested $27.1 billion in 29 firms as at June-end, SoftBank said yesterday.
Planning to list
Its investments are now worth $32.5 billion on the rising value of its various stakes, such as in shared office space company WeWork.
SoftBank has around 1,700 of its own staff currently using some of WeWork Japan’s 6,250 seats.
“We are considering moving all of SoftBank’s headquarters into WeWork (offices) in the near future,” Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Monday.
Son has previously said a second Vision Fund is being planned, but yesterday declined to comment on timing or size. SoftBank’s shares closed up 2 per cent ahead of the earnings announcement.
SoftBank, which is increasingly shifting focusing to investment activity from its telecoms business, also reported rising values from stakes in US ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc and Southeast Asian peer Grab.
Amid its effort to switch focus, SoftBank is planning to list its Japan telecoms unit in what is widely expected to be one of the country’s largest-ever initial public offerings.