SoftBank announced fiscal first-quarter results that surpassed analyst projections, with net profit reaching 347.3 billion Japanese yen ($2.2 billion), compared to expectations of 120.23 billion yen. The results represented an approximately 18% decline from the prior-year period.
The company’s investment division recorded a substantial 1.3 trillion yen gain on its holdings in Intel, which had appreciated nearly 400% over the preceding 12 months. This gain stemmed from SoftBank’s approximately $2 billion investment in the U.S. chipmaker made in the prior year, contributing to the investment division’s segment profit of 1.05 trillion yen.
SoftBank’s Vision Funds, which manage a diverse portfolio including stakes in OpenAI and ByteDance, posted a 5.4 billion yen profit for the quarter, a significant decline from 451.4 billion yen in the same period a year prior. The funds recorded a $1.7 billion increase in total value during the quarter, primarily attributable to a $2.2 billion gain in the valuation of its ByteDance stake, which offset declines in other holdings such as PayPay. Notably, the company reported recording neither a gain nor a loss from its OpenAI investment in the current quarter, contrasting sharply with the prior quarter when the Vision Funds posted nearly a $20 billion gain driven almost entirely by OpenAI.
SoftBank has committed to invest more than $60 billion in OpenAI, securing approximately 13% ownership, with $55 billion already deployed. According to sources, the company has not identified material changes warranting a revaluation of OpenAI, and company leadership views the expanding competitive landscape in artificial intelligence as indicative of market growth rather than a concern. OpenAI filed confidentially for a public offering in June, with the source indicating SoftBank would likely divest some holdings upon the company’s public debut, though not a substantial portion.
Meanwhile, SoftBank’s artificial intelligence computing segment posted a 200.8 billion yen loss, wider than the 32.4 billion yen loss from the corresponding prior-year quarter, attributed to elevated research and development expenditures at portfolio companies including Arm, Graphcore, and Ampere. The company’s share price declined approximately 34% from its June peak as investors expressed concern regarding funding capacity and portfolio concentration in Arm and OpenAI.
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