SoftBank Group reported a fiscal second-quarter net loss of 1.12 trillion yen ($7 billion), against a profit a year earlier. Its shares still closed higher on Tuesday as Asian technology stocks rebounded. SoftBank has made OpenAI a major focus of its AI investment strategy.
SoftBank Group reported a fiscal second-quarter net loss of 1.12 trillion yen ($7 billion) on Tuesday. Even so, its shares closed 13.9% higher the same day.
Loss follows a year-earlier profit
The company booked a net profit of 2.5 trillion yen in the same quarter a year earlier. According to Reuters, that period included a huge investment gain on a rise in the value of its OpenAI stake.
Revenue stood at 2.22 trillion yen, compared with LSEG estimates of 2.02 trillion yen. Reuters noted that SoftBank's earnings are volatile and difficult to predict: forecasts from three analysts polled by LSEG ranged from a profit of 233 billion yen to a loss of 113 billion yen.
Shares rise after losing nearly half their value
Tuesday's gains came as Asian technology stocks, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, rose following an overnight rebound on Wall Street. Reuters reported that SoftBank's shares, like other AI stocks, had almost halved in value since the start of June.
Reuters also reported that the Democratic Party's sweeping success in US midterm elections last week heightened expectations of regulatory scrutiny. That amplified concerns that had been growing among investors about returns for the AI industry.
$30 billion more for OpenAI and a Malaysia infrastructure plan
SoftBank completed a $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI in October, bringing its total investment to $64.6 billion and its ownership stake to approximately 13%. According to Reuters, those bets have raised questions about how well the company can weather setbacks in the sector.
On Monday, SoftBank announced plans with Grab and Malaysia's PETROS to commit a combined $1.85 billion in initial capital to AI infrastructure in Malaysia, with a long-term target of at least five gigawatts of computing capacity.
Sources: CNBC, Reuters via Investing.com
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