SoftBank swings back to investment gain at Vision Fund, announces up to $3.4 billion share buyback

SoftBank Group booked a 1.9 billion yen ($12.9 million) investment gain on its Vision Fund tech investment arm in the company’s fiscal first quarter ended in June, swinging back into the black.

The Japanese giant also announced it would buy back up to 6.8% of shares available in the company amounting to up to 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion).

In the year ago quarter, SoftBank posted 159.77 billion yen gain in its Vision Fund. In the March quarter, SoftBank posted a loss of 57.53 billion yen in its flagship tech investment arm.

SoftBank posted its first full-year gain since 2021 at the Vision Fund in the fiscal year ended March as it benefitted from a rally in technology stocks and within some of its key holdings.

The Vision Fund’s recent success is also due in large part to the success of the initial public offering of chip designer Arm last year, of which SoftBank owns around 90% of the company.

However, SoftBank is once more contending with volatile public markets. On Monday, SoftBank shares tanked nearly 19% in a day amid a broader fall in Japanese stocks stoked by an interest rate rise from the Bank of Japan last week.

Japan’s main indexes did rebound on Tuesday, however. But global markets remain volatile as investors remain concerned about the state of the world economy and high valuations in part driven by technology stocks.

SoftBank, which itself has been marred by bad bets over the past few years, is trying to position itself to investors as a key player in the artificial intelligence boom. The company’s management have highlighted its investments in companies like Arm and self-driving startup Wayve as indiciations that the Japanese giant is poised to capitalize on the growth of AI.

SoftBank’s high-profile founder Masayoshi Son, who has been largely out of the public eye for a while, returned this year to deliver his vision of AI which he predicts will be 10,000 times smarter than humans in 10 years.