SoftBank Group Corp tumbled to a loss in the December quarter, weighed down by a drop in the value of Vision Fund’s public holdings, just as founder Masayoshi Son campaigns to raise US$500 billion for artificial-intelligence (AI) infrastructure under the Stargate Project.
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The Tokyo-based company reported a net loss of ¥369.2 billion (US$2.4 billion) for its financial third quarter, compared with a profit of ¥950 billion a year ago.
The firm’s Vision Fund unit logged a ¥309.9 billion loss, hurting the bottom line after shares of public holdings, such as South Korean online retailer Coupang and Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global, gave up some of their gains from the previous quarter.
Volatility in the Vision Fund’s quarterly performance consistently dogs SoftBank, which has embarked on a project with ChatGPT creator OpenAI to invest US$500 billion on the infrastructure needed to support and propel AI development.
Japanese billionaire Son, who serves as chairman and chief executive of SoftBank, is exploring project financing to raise money. One scenario under review is to raise 10 per cent of the total sum through equity, with senior loans contributing as much as 70 per cent, Bloomberg News reported.
Son’s previous big bet – the Vision Fund – still has hundreds of unlisted start-ups on its books. One is ByteDance, which is under pressure to sell the US operations of its popular video app TikTok or face a shutdown.