SoftBank Posts First Profit In Three Years For April–September

SoftBank Group Corp. reported on Tuesday a net profit of 1.01 trillion yen ($6.5 billion) for the six months ending in September, marking a return to profitability for the first time in three years, aided by rising stock prices in its investment portfolio, Kyodo News reported.

SoftBank recently invested in OpenAI, the company behind the AI chatbot ChatGPT. I Photo: SoftBank X

This result represents a significant turnaround from the 1.41 trillion yen loss posted in the same period last year, when SoftBank recorded substantial write-downs in its startup investments.

“We have enough financial strength for various future investments in artificial intelligence,” Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said at a press conference, mentioning SoftBank’s recent investment in OpenAI, the company behind the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

For the first half of the fiscal year, SoftBank’s investment profit reached 2.65 trillion yen, thanks to strong performance from its Vision Fund, which returned to profitability for the first time in nine quarters during the June–September period.

The company’s earnings, which are heavily tied to stock market trends, were also bolstered by a 289 billion yen gain due to the yen's strengthening during the period.