SoftBank shares hit record high after strong Q1 results

Shares of Tokyo-based SoftBank Group on Friday (August 8) rose as much as 13% after the company posted strong numbers for the April-June quarter. The stock rally also indicates support for the company’s AI investment spree.

The company’s shares hit an intra-day high of 14,390 yen and closed at 13,865, up 10.4% on the Tokyo stock exchange. Softbank beating analyst estimates reported a profit of 421.8 billion yen ($2.87 billion) for the June quarter, compared to a loss in the same period last year.

During the year so far, SoftBank has announced a series of huge AI investments. The company led a $10-billion round investment in OpenAI, with an additional $30 billion planned by December. It’s also eyeing a $6.5-billion acquisition of AI chipmaker Ampere Computing.

Meanwhile, SoftBank is a key backer of the $500-billion Stargate AI infrastructure project in the US, which aims to build large-scale data centres for the generative AI era.

The company’s stock rally also aided Japan's Topix index, which rose some 1.5% to trade above the 3,000-point mark for the first time in its history.

On August 7, SoftBank’s Vision Fund just notched its biggest quarterly gain since 2021, thanks to a double boost from India and AI. The Japanese tech giant reported a $4.8-billion rise in Vision Fund asset value for Q1FY25, driven by strong gains in Swiggy and its broader India portfolio.

ALSO READ | SoftBank's Masayoshi Son pitches $1 trillion US AI hub to TSMC, Donald Trump team

Meanwhile, SoftBank’s investment portfolio company, Lenskart Solutions, an omnichannel eyewear brand, is expected to go public this year. In July Lenskart filed its draft red herring prospectus with capital markets regulator SEBI to raise funds through an initial public offering.

With inputs from Reuters