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  SoftBank on Wednesday reported a record 4.03 trillion yen ($36.99 billion) Vision Fund unit profit from a fourth-quarter investment gain on Coupang, putting it among the world's biggest earning firms a year after an unprecedented loss.<\/p>\n

  Group net profit was 4.99 trillion yen ($45.88 billion) in the year ended March, topping the $42.5 billion made by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in its last business year.<\/p>\n

  It also compares with a 962 billion yen loss a year earlier after teetering tech bets depressed the value of Softbank's portfolio.<\/p>\n

  "It's clearly validation of Masa's thesis," Navneet Govil, Vision Fund's chief financial officer, told Reuters in an interview, referring to company founder and CEO Masayoshi Son.<\/p>\n

  Market enthusiasm for tech stocks drove the public listing of SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Coupang and used-car trading platform Auto1 Group and the rising share price of ride-hailing firm Uber during the quarter.<\/p>\n

  To sustain Softbank's position among the global corporate elite, Son will have to replicate that fourth-quarter performance with other yet-to-list companies in the Vision fund portfolio. Son has likened that to laying golden eggs.<\/p>\n

  Candidates including ride-hailing firm Didi, TikTok owner Bytedance and truck service platform Full Truck Alliance have strong revenue growth, healthy market share and a clear path to profitability, according to Govil.<\/p>\n

  These companies are "sizeable investments with significant value to be unlocked," he said.<\/p>\n

  Much of Vision Fund's gain, however, is on paper with the value of the portfolio locked up in the stock market amid concern over frothy valuations and a boom in special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPACs) which has drawn regulatory scrutiny.<\/p>\n

  The total fair value of the first $100 billion Vision Fund and the smaller second fund was $154 billion at the end of March, with SoftBank distributing $22.3 billion to limited partners.<\/p>\n

  SoftBank has hiked its committed capital in the second fund to $30 billion from $10 billion, reflecting the breadth of investment opportunities, Govil said.<\/p>\n

  Son said he may consider inviting third-party money into Vision Fund 2.<\/p>\n

  Two of SoftBank's highest-profile bets, space sharing firm WeWork and ride-hailing firm Grab, have outlined plans to list via SPAC mergers, with Vision Fund reportedly in talks to use its own such vehicle to list portfolio company Mapbox.<\/p>\n

  The Grab deal offers further upside for the Vision Fund should the transaction go through, Govil said.<\/p>\n

  The group's trading arm, SB Northstar, is expanding dealmaking this week leading a $1 billion investment in acquisitive e-commerce firm THG.<\/p>\n

  SB Northstar and the broader group recorded a 233 billion yen loss on investments in listed stocks and derivatives as efforts to work cash reserves outside the Vision Fund sputter.<\/p>\n

  SoftBank has completed a 2.5 trillion yen buyback program launched last year which pushed the stock price to two-decade highs in March. The end of the buyback pulls support at a time when shares are sliding in line with weakness in U.S. tech stocks.<\/p>\n

  Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  SoftBank reported a record $36.99 billion Vision Fund unit profit from a fourth-quarter investment gain on Coupang. The results put it among the world's biggest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n