Masayoshi Son has pulled off a remarkably speedy comeback after the worst loss in his company’s 39-year history. A global rally in technology shares lifted the value of SoftBank’s stakes in publicly traded firms like Uber Technologies Inc. and improved the prospects for startups in its portfolio, from China’s Didi Chuxing to South Korea’s Coupang. Son also sold off assets and bought back shares at unprecedented rates, pushing up SoftBank’s own stock price to the highest in two decades.
SoftBank Group Corp. rebounded from a record loss to post a first-quarter profit as valuations for technology startups recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.
Net income hit 1.26 trillion yen ($11.8 billion) for the three months ended June 30, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement on Tuesday, compared with a loss of 1.44 trillion yen three months earlier. The Vision Fund income was 129.6 billion yen, following a 1.13 trillion yen loss in the previous quarter.
