SoftBank Q3 profit soars to US$11.1b
Source: Xinhua | 2021-02-09
SoftBank Group said net profit rocketed to US$11.1 billion in the third quarter, as CEO Masayoshi Son taunted critics and dubbed his Vision Fund a “goose that produces golden eggs.”
The telecoms firm turned tech investment behemoth said net profit for October-December hit 1,171.9 billion yen (US$11 billion), more than 21 times higher than the 55-billion yen reported a year earlier.
Despite the results, it said it would not provide a forecast “due to numerous uncertainties affecting earnings.”
But the economic crisis that has accompanied the coronavirus pandemic has worked largely in SoftBank’s favor, with rallies in tech stocks it owns and rising valuations for firms in its portfolio suited to the era, including food delivery.
SoftBank reported a nearly US$9 billion net loss in the previous full fiscal year, but has quickly returned to the black.
Founder Son, who has battled critics of his commitment to sometimes-troubled start-ups, came out swinging at a presentation of the firm’s results.
“Just a year ago, a lot of mass media criticized the Vision Fund as a fund which is wrong and not functioning, only laying rotten eggs, but I believed in it,” he said at an earnings presentation.
“I want to say once again SoftBank is a producer. It’s a producer of golden eggs.
“Since the Vision Fund began, the number of eggs has increased at an accelerated pace ... And it is finally entering a harvest period.”
SoftBank has stakes in some of Silicon Valley’s hottest start-ups through its US$100-billion Vision Fund.
In a statement, the firm said the fund soared thanks to “a rebound in the public equity markets” and rising values of portfolio companies.
Busiunion
Busiunion