导致集团亏损的主要原因是旗下愿景基金投资表现不佳。该基金当季投资亏损高达3527.5亿日元，The main reason for the loss of the SoftBank Group is the poor investment performance of its Vision Fund. The Fund posted an investment loss of 352.75 billion yen this quarter, ending the profit streak of the previous two quarters.
Due to poor performance of the Vision Fund, SoftBank Group unexpectedly reported a loss of 2.4 billion dollars in its Q3 Earnings Report. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son had been actively investing in the AI field, planning large-scale investments, including the "Stargate" project in collaboration with OpenAI.
At that time on Wednesday, SoftBank released the Q3 Earnings Report data for the fiscal year 2024. The data showed that SoftBank Group unexpectedly reported a loss of 369.2 billion yen (approximately 2.4 billion dollars) for the quarter, whereas there was a profit of 950 billion yen in the same period last year. This result significantly fell short of LSEG SmartEstimate's prior prediction of a net income of 234 billion yen.
The main reason for the group's loss was the poor performance of its Vision Fund investments. The fund recorded an investment loss of up to 352.75 billion yen this quarter, ending a profit streak that lasted two previous quarters. The broader Vision Fund segment (including management costs, currency fluctuations, and other factors) reported a loss of 309.93 billion yen.
In terms of segmented funds, the value of the listed portfolio company in Vision Fund I declined by 2.1% quarter-on-quarter, mainly affected by the drop in stock price of e-commerce company Coupang. The investment value in private companies also decreased by 3.3%. The fair value of Vision Fund II dropped by 3.7% compared to the end of the previous quarter. The decline in stock prices of listed companies such as electric vehicle manufacturer Ola Electric Mobility and warehouse automation company AutoStore offset the increase in stock price of food delivery company Swiggy following its IPO in November 2024.
Despite the poor quarterly performance, SoftBank's stock price still rose by about 16% over the past year. Previously, due to market optimism regarding Arm's position as NVIDIA's AI Chip design partner, SoftBank's stock price had hit a record high.
Analysts are concerned that SoftBank's weak performance may increase skepticism about Masayoshi Son's substantial investments in AI.
According to previous media reports, SoftBank is close to finalizing a major investment of 40 billion dollars in OpenAI, which would value OpenAI at 260 billion dollars. This new financing would make SoftBank the largest investor in this AI startup, surpassing Microsoft.
In addition to investing in OpenAI, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son also plans to collaborate with OpenAI to jointly advance a massive AI infrastructure project named "Interstellar Gateway."
The project is expected to invest up to $500 billion over the next four years. SoftBank plans to initially invest around $15 billion to $20 billion, and may later raise funds through project financing and other means.
Editor/lambor
