SoftBank books $5.2 billion quarterly loss as investments

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SoftBank Group booked a $5.2 billion quarterly loss on Thursday, its fourth straight quarter in the red, as the Japanese tech giant wrote down the value of tech investments and took a hit from the bankruptcy of the once high-flying WeWork.

Article originally published by Reuters. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for its content or accuracy and may not share the author's views. News and research are not personal recommendations to deal. All investments can fall in value so you could get back less than you invest.

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09 Nov 2023

The results underscore the volatility and risk inherent in founder Masayoshi Son's strategy of betting big on often risky start-ups. The loss was also a reminder of how even the likes of SoftBank — famous for a focus on cutting-edge technology — can be brought to earth by workaday problems like currency rates.

The Japanese conglomerate said it was squeezed by weakness in the yen that drove up costs on its dollar-denominated debt.

SoftBank reported a 789 billion yen ($5.2 billion) net loss for the three months to end-September, compared with a 3.01 trillion yen profit a year earlier when it sold down a large portion of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Its Vision Fund investment unit, meanwhile, booked an investment profit of 21.4 billion yen in the latest quarter, after posting a 160 billion yen