SoftBank Swings to Surprise $6.4B Profit After Four Down Quarters, Arm Stake Nets $16B

Volatile tech conglomerate squashed profit estimates in its most-recent quarter in a move to bring back investor confidence after devastating losses.

• SoftBank 9984, Masayoshi Son’s tech conglomerate, reported a surprise net profit of ¥950 billion ($6.4 billion) for the December quarter, way ahead of the ¥373 billion expected. The volatile investment giant has finally returned to profitability after four bruising quarters marked by tens of billions of dollars wiped out.
• The firm’s flagship tech investment arm, the Vision Fund, made an overall investment gain of ¥600 billion, a stark contrast to the ¥730 billion loss in the year-ago quarter. Shares of the Tokyo-listed company closed up more than 11% on Thursday even before the company had announced its quarterly performance.
• The much needed profit is a breath of fresh air for risk-taker Masayoshi Son who has stomached a series of ill-fated ventures, the most recent being a $14 billion failed bet on bankrupt office-sharing company WeWork. Fortunately, a surging valuation of Arm ARM chipped in a $16 billion gain for SoftBank, which owns over 90% of the chip designer, leaving only 9.4% of shares to the public.