SoftBank posts second straight quarter of profit as business shifts to AI, semiconductors

Odaily News Benefiting from the investment boom in artificial intelligence, which boosted equity assets such as Arm (ARM.O), Japan's SoftBank Group achieved profitability for the second consecutive quarter. SoftBank's quarterly net profit was 231.1 billion yen (US$1.5 billion), compared with a net loss of 57.6 billion yen in the same period last year. Analysts expected net profit of 176.3 billion yen for the quarter. The Vision Fund reported a loss of 96.74 billion yen, lower than the expected profit of 185.14 billion yen. SoftBank is regaining its footing as Masayoshi Son makes large-scale investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors. In recent years, as the focus of its business has been adjusted, the Vision Fund has quietly sold or written down its listed stock holdings worth billions of dollars. This brought SoftBank's cash reserves to US$2 trillion at the end of March. (Jinshi)