SoftBank posts investment gains in Vision Fund, buys back $3.4B worth of shares

SoftBank Group Corp. booked a 1.9 billion yen ($12.9 million) investment gain in its Vision Fund technology investment arm in the company’s fiscal first quarter ended in June, returning it to profitability.

The Japanese conglomerate also said it will buy back up to 6.8% of the company’s available shares for up to 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion). In the previous quarter, SoftBank posted a 159.77 billion yen gain in its Vision Fund. In the quarter ended in March, SoftBank had reported a 57.53 billion yen loss in its leading technology investment arm. It was SoftBank’s first annual gain since 2021 in the Vision Fund in the fiscal year ended in March, as it benefited from a surge in technology stocks and some of its key holdings.

The Vision Fund’s recent success, according to CNBC, is largely due to the successful initial public offering of chip designer Arm last year, in which SoftBank owns about 90%. However, SoftBank is once again facing volatile public markets. On Monday, SoftBank shares fell about 19% in a single day amid a broader slide in Japanese stocks due to the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike last week. The Public Investment Fund is a major investor in SoftBank’s Vision Fund.