SoftBank Group Corp. TYO: 9984 holding, inwestycje, telekomunikacja, internet, media

[slayer74]

TOKYO (Reuters) -Shares in SoftBank Group Corp rose 5% in morning trading in Tokyo on Friday after the Japanese conglomerate said it would book a $34.1 billion gain by trimming its stake in Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding.

SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is moving to shore up his group's cash reserves and accelerating asset sales after the Vision Fund investment arm booked a $50 billion loss in the six months to June-end as the value of his tech portfolio collapsed.

Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares rose 2.6% on Thursday, when the Tokyo market was closed for a national holiday.

[slayer74]

SoftBank to Cut 20% of Staff at Vision Fund - Bloomberg.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... SI-2885338

[slayer74]

SEOUL (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp founder and CEO Masayoshi Son discussed on Tuesday a long-term cooperation between chip designer Arm and Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF), but did not propose the South Korean firm to invest in the British company, a local media reported on Wednesday.

The billionaire, who is making his first visit to Seoul in three years, said earlier that he'd like to talk with Samsung (KS:005930) about a "strategic alliance with Arm".

The visit comes amid speculation over the potential formation of an industry consortium to invest in Arm, whose technology powers Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iPhone and nearly all other smartphones, and ensure its neutrality.

At a meeting held on Tuesday which Arm Chief Executive Rene Haas also attended, Son did not propose that Samsung buy a stake in Arm or make a pre-IPO investment, the JoongAng daily newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed industry sources.

SoftBank did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment. Samsung declined to comment.

SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016 for $32 billion. A subsequent proposed deal to sell it to Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) aroused industry opposition and foundered on regulatory hurdles, prompting SoftBank to outline plans for a U.S. listing of the Cambridge-based firm.

[slayer74]

SoftBank Group Incurs 129-B.-Yen Net Loss in 1st Half
Tokyo, Nov. 11 (Jiji Press)--SoftBank Group Corp. <9984> reported Friday a consolidated net loss of 129,098 million yen for the fiscal first half that ended in September, against a net profit of 363,569 million yen a year earlier.
But the size of the loss shrank from over 3 trillion yen reported in April-June, thanks to gains from the sale of some of its shareholdings in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.

[slayer74]

Masayoshi Son winny SoftBankowi prawie 5 mld dolarów
Masayoshi Son, prezes i zarazem założyciel SoftBanku, jest mu winny 4,7 mld USD. To skutek umów zawieranych przez Sona, które miały prowadzić do powiększenia jego wynagrodzenia. Son przez wiele lat zdobywał „osobiste” udziały w inwestycjach SoftBanku, a część z tych inwestycji przyniosła duże straty.

,7 mld USD to suma, którą Son był winny swojemu bankowi na koniec drugiego kwartału. Była ona związana z udziałami, jakie miał on w projektach prowadzonych przez podległy SoftBankowi fundusz Vision Fund, inwestujący głównie w startupy technologiczne. Vison Fund stracił w drugim kwartale 7,2 mld USD straty, m.in. na inwestycjach w takich firmach jak DoorDash czy SenseTime Group. W rękach Sona znajdowało się m.in. 17,25 proc. wehikułu inwestycyjnego Vision Fund 2, w którym gromadzono udziały spółek nie notowanych na giełdach, 17,25 proc. wehikułu inwestującego w startupy z Ameryki Łacińskiej i 33 proc. wehikułu SB Northstar obracającego akcjami i derywatami.

https://www.parkiet.com/gospodarka-swia ... ld-dolarow

[slayer74]

SoftBank shares fell 6.2% after it reported a quarterly loss, hit by its massive Vision Fund investment unit, which fell into the red for the fourth straight quarter. The global tech investor also gave a cautious outlook.

[slayer74]

(Reuters) -China's Ant Group and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp are seeking to sell their stakes in Indian digital payments firm Paytm in the open market, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

The companies had earlier approached Bharti Airtel founder-chairman Sunil Mittal to sell their stakes in Paytm's parent One 97 Communications, but those talks did not make much headway, ET reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

SoftBank, Ant Group, Paytm and Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comments.

A secondary sale to financial investors in the open market through a block deal is, however, still a possibility, the Economic Times reported.

Ant has a nearly 25% stake in Paytm, while SoftBank owns about 13%, according to exchange data.

Paytm has been under pressure to turn profitable ever since its dismal listing in late 2021.

Its shares have tumbled about 70% below their IPO price of 2,150 rupees as lofty valuations of loss-making tech firms come under scrutiny amid volatility in the financial markets.

China's Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group earlier this month exited Paytm by selling its remaining stake in the company for about 13.78 billion rupees ($166.20 million). SoftBank had also previously sold a 4.5% stake in Paytm through block deals for about $200 million.

Paytm's shares rose 1.5% to 632.90 rupees as of 1:47 p.m. IST.

[slayer74]

SoftBank snub shows London risks losing its listings lustre
03.03.23
LONDON (Reuters) - London risks losing its appeal for stock market listings, some investors and financial executives said, with sluggish trading and low valuations driving more companies to float elsewhere.

Arm, owned by Japan's SoftBank, on Thursday said a U.S.-only initial public offering (IPO) was the "best path forward" for both the chip technology firm and its stakeholders.

That dashed government hopes that Arm, seen as a British tech success story, would return to the London market, where it was listed before being taken over in 2016.

"There is zero surprise that Arm has chosen New York, and many other businesses, particularly where the majority of their operations are in the U.S., will follow," said Iain McDonald, founder of investment advisory firm Belerion Capital.

Arm's announcement came a day after Dublin-based construction materials company CRH (NYSE:CRH) recommended moving its primary listing from London to the United States.

"It's a move that seems to make sense for a company that does so much business Stateside, but it hints at further dissatisfaction with London's ability to cut it as a global financial superpower," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.

In another blow to London, Flutter Entertainment, the world's largest online betting firm, said last month it would consult shareholders on an additional U.S. listing.

McDonald said that if companies like Arm do not list in the U.S. they would "simply be acquired by better capitalised, higher-rated U.S. competitors", pointing to reduced market liquidity and support for growth companies in Britain.

Britain's troubles in attracting IPOs stem partly, investment bankers say, from London-listed companies being valued lower than those in the United States.

S&P 500 index companies trade at 17 times 12-month forward earnings, compared with around 11 for the FTSE All-Share index, a gap that has grown in the past decade.

London accounted for just 1.1% of the total amount raised by companies in listings in 2022 and ranked 13th in a table topped by China and the United States, Dealogic data shows.

So far in 2023 it is 21st, with China again in top spot.

But British companies that floated in New York have not necessarily had the smooth ride they expected, data compiled by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) suggests.

By the LSE's own count, the 22 British businesses that have floated in the U.S. over the last decade have seen their shares drop by 38.6% on average.

(Graphic: Cheaper by the pound - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BRITAI ... /chart.png)

'AMBITIOUS REFORMS'

Britain remains a leading global financial centre, the headquarters of many major global institutions, the world's largest foreign exchange trading venue and home to one of Europe's largest stock exchanges by market value.

But Arm's decision should be a wake-up call for officials to make Britain a more attractive destination, LSE Chief Executive Julia Hoggett said.

"(It) demonstrates the need for the UK to make rapid progress in its regulatory and market reform agenda, including addressing the amount of risk capital available to drive growth," Hoggett said on Friday.

Britain has launched a series of reforms designed to streamline listing rules and make it easier for investors to allocate more cash to stocks, rather than bonds.

"The UK is taking forward ambitious reforms to the rules governing its capital markets, building on our continued success as Europe's leading hub for investment, and the second largest globally," a government spokesperson said in a statement.

Among the measures already in place is a reduction of the minimum free-float required for companies to list, and further reforms are in the works, including a review of the LSE's Premium and Standard listing segments.

"The U.S. is a big competitor, but it's important for companies to look at the data," said one person with knowledge of British efforts to win more listings.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... re-3021965

[slayer74]

SoftBank Group Corp. <9984> has moved to sell almost all of its remaining shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the Financial Times reported in its online edition Wednesday.
The Japanese technology conglomerate took the action as it needs to strengthen its balance sheet amid sluggish performance of group investment funds.

[slayer74]

(Update) SoftBank Group Posts 970-B.-Yen Loss in FY 2022
Tokyo, May 11 (Jiji Press)--Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of 970.1 billion yen for the year that ended in March.
The loss, however, shrunk from the previous year's 1,708 billion yen.
...
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's SoftBank Group Corp on Friday posted a sharply narrower annual loss after a capital raise using its stake in Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd helped cushion investment loss at its Vision Fund investing arm.

SoftBank reported a net loss of 970 billion yen ($7.18 billion) for the year ended March 31, compared with a 1.7 trillion yen loss in the same period a year earlier.

CEO Masayoshi Son's attempt to bestride the tech investing industry has suffered a series of high-profile reversals after outsized bets through SoftBank's first Vision Fund turned sour and investments made at bubbly valuations via a smaller second fund slumped.

With key architects of that strategy having left, Son has focused on shoring up the balance sheet, cutting his stake in e-commerce giant Alibaba and stepping back from trademark presentations to focus on the listing of chip designer Arm.

Over the January-March quarter the fair value of the Vision Fund unit's portfolio was marked down by $2.3 billion to $138 billion. The result marks the investing arm's fifth consecutive quarter of investment loss, albeit smaller than in previous quarters.

Assets gaining value include e-commerce retailer Coupang Inc and robotics company AutoStore Holdings Ltd, with office-share company WeWork Inc among the fallers.

SoftBank wrote down the value of private portfolio companies in both the first and second funds. At the end of March, the second fund's portfolio was worth $31 billion compared with an acquisition cost of $49.9 billion.

SoftBank has said it is in defence mode, putting investing activity on the backburner with the Vision Fund unit striking just 25 new deals over the past year.

Looking to bolster its capital buffers, SoftBank raised $35.46 billion through prepaid forward contracts using Alibaba shares during the fiscal year. A further $4.1 billion was raised through forward contracts for the period after April 1, 2023.

With the uptick in some tech stock prices, investor attention has turned to how long SoftBank will maintain its holding pattern.

Referring to the rise of new technology such as generative artificial intelligence, "we need to look at whether we should stick to our defensive strategy, or whether we should also be on offence," SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto told a news briefing.

The Vision Fund emphasises that it holds stakes in companies including Arm and short video app TikTok parent Bytedance worth some $37 billion ready to go public in the future.

Investors are also focused on the potential for further buybacks. SoftBank's shares closed down 0.85% ahead of earnings and have fallen almost 9% this year.

[slayer74]

New York, May 22 (Jiji Press)--Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. will sell U.S. unit Fortress Investment Group LLC to Abu Dhabi's state-owned Mubadala Investment Co., Fortress and Mubadala said Monday.
Mubadala will acquire some 90 pct of the equity of Fortress that is currently held by SoftBank through a subsidiary. After the transaction, 30 pct of Fortress will likely be owned by the U.S. company's management team and the remaining 70 pct by Mubadala.

[slayer74]

In corporate news, the tech sector is set to take the spotlight Tuesday following a report that chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is in talks with SoftBank (TYO:9984) to be an anchor investor in the initial public offering of the Japanese conglomerate’s Arm unit.

Arm intends to raise between $8 billion and $10 billion, according to reports from earlier in the year.

[slayer74]

TOKYO (Reuters) -SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Tuesday he is a "heavy user" of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) backed startup OpenAI.

"I am chatting with ChatGPT everyday - I am a heavy user," Son told shareholders of the group's telecoms subsidiary.

Amid excitement over AI, Son has stepped back from public pronouncements in recent months to focus on the planned listing of chip designer Arm as his technology investment conglomerate books heavy loss due to the sliding value of its portfolio.

Son also said he is speaking "almost everyday" to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who made high-profile visits to Tokyo this year as he looks to capitalise on interest in generative AI and exert influence on regulation of the burgeoning technology worldwide.

The San Francisco-based startup is supported by investment from Microsoft, which is seen as a leader in AI adoption and has begun a host of AI upgrades.

SoftBank will hold its annual general meeting on Wednesday with the market looking for details of Son's investment outlook at a time when interest in AI is driving capital expenditure around the world.

Son has long argued that AI is the driving force behind his investing activity but has had to contend with high-profile stumbles such as office-sharing firm WeWork and weakness in valuations of the high-growth startups he favours.

A successful listing of Cambridge, England-based Arm would be seen as providing a much-needed win for the indebted Japanese conglomerate, whose long-term credit rating was last month cut by S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Ratings citing its exposure to unlisted companies.

As observers debate Son's ability to pick winners in an economy expected to be increasingly powered by AI, his group's shares have been swept up in a frenzy for chip and AI-related stocks, gaining around 30% quarter-to-date.

[slayer74]

SoftBank posts quarterly loss despite Vision Fund recovery

Japan's SoftBank (TYO:9984) unexpectedly reported its third straight quarterly loss, even though its Vision Fund investment arm improved from a string of declines thanks to a rebound in tech valuations.

SoftBank Group, helmed by billionaire investor Masayoshi Son, fell to a loss of ¥477.6 billion, or roughly $3.3B, during the April to June period. Analysts had been expecting a profit of ¥75B. Dropping valuations in big stakes in companies like Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) and T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) weighed on SoftBank's overall performance.

But its flagship Vision Fund unit, the world's biggest tech-focused investment fund, returned to the black after five straight quarters of losses following a jump in the valuation of Arm ahead of the chip designer's planned initial public offering later this year. In the prior quarter, the division, which has previously backed high-profile tech players like ride-hailing firm Uber (NYSE:UBER) and fintech Revolut, slipped to a loss of ¥237B.

Investors remain curious to see if hype over AI -- a partial source of fuel for this year's drive higher in Big Tech shares -- will also support SoftBank's returns.

[slayer74]

TOKYO (Reuters) -Apple and Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) will invest in SoftBank Group-owned chip designer Arm at its initial public offering (IPO), expected in September, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Reuters reported in June that Arm was in talks with some ten companies - including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Samsung (KS:005930) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) - with the aim of bringing on one or more anchor investors in the offering.

Last month, Reuters and other media reported that Arm was in talks to bring in U.S. chip designer Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) as an anchor investor for the New York listing.

Apple, Samsung, Nvidia and Intel all plan to invest in Arm as soon as it is listed on the market, the Nikkei said. The SoftBank-owned firm will officially apply to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the listing later this month, the newspaper said.

Arm plans to sell the chipmakers stakes of "a few percent each", the newspaper said.

SoftBank declined to comment. Apple and Intel did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Samsung and Nvidia declined to comment.

The long-awaited IPO is seen as a potential windfall for Softbank (OTC:SFTBY) founder and CEO Masayoshi Son's sprawling tech conglomerate.

SoftBank has been targeting a listing for Arm since its deal to sell the chip designer to Nvidia collapsed last year due to objections from antitrust regulators.

The planned U.S. listing could raise between $8 billion and $10 billion, sources told Reuters in April. At an earnings briefing on Tuesday, SoftBank's chief financial officer provided no details on a listing date or fundraising goal, but said preparations were going "very smoothly".

SoftBank posted a surprise loss on Tuesday but said it was dipping its toes back into new investments after its Vision Fund unit returned to the black for the first time in six