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Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. racked up a 1.1 trillion yen
($7 billion) loss for the three months through September, a
reversal from the 2.5 trillion yen in profit the same period a
year earlier. Quarterly sales rose 16% to 2.2 trillion yen from
1.9 trillion yen.
Analysts say the financial results for a company like SoftBank
Group are difficult to predict as it invests in a variety of
other companies, including OpenAI and Arm Holdings, whose
fortunes tend to be volatile.
Founded by Masayoshi Son, SoftBank was an early investor in
internet technology, and has focused on companies related to AI,
telecommunications, robotics and e-commerce. It runs a series of
investment funds called Vision Fund that center around a
portfolio of various technology companies, including startups.
Son, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley,
boasts a wide circle of friends among American entrepreneurs
including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Apple
co-founder Steve Jobs. That is relatively unusual for a
businessperson in Japan.
Son also has a highly public friendship with Nvidia Chief
Executive Jensen Huang. Son had sold his shares in Nvidia before
the revelations of Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese
government agent, which Nvidia officials and other authorities
said was being investigated.
“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else,
and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” U.S. President Donald
Trump said at a White House briefing on Monday.
The disclosure has renewed concerns about whether China has been
able to access Nvidia AI chips.
SoftBank Group stocks, which have lost about a third of their
value over the last year, closed nearly 14% higher in Tokyo
trading Tuesday, before the earnings results were released.
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