Softbank Reports Record High Annual Profit of $46bn

Softbank set the record for the largest ever annual profit by a Japanese company with a net profit of JPY 4.99tn ($46bn) for the year ended March 31. The strong earnings by the Masayoshi Son-led company were fueled by gains of ~$58bn at the $100bn Vision Fund, $24bn of which can be attributable to gains related to South Korean e-commerce company Coupang that listed in March. Softbank also attributed large chunks of the gains to food-delivery company DoorDash that listed in December and a sale of its controlling stake in US telecom Sprint last year. However, Mr. Son did acknowledge that the profits related to its investments are on paper only and will reverse if stocks selloff. Softbank announced that it has tripled the capital that it has pledged to its second Vision Fund to $30bn. Its pace of investments seem to have picked up as the second Vision Fund reported investments/commitments in 95 companies, 70 more than what it had reported at the end of December. The company announced that it has completed its JPY 2.5tn ($23bn) share buyback with no plans of further buybacks for now.

Softbank’s 6% perp traded stable at 101.75 yielding 5.13%.

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