SoftBank Swings to a Loss Ahead of Big AI Bet with OpenAI

SoftBank Group Corp. tumbled to a loss in the December quarter, weighed down by a drop in the value of the Vision Fund's public holdings, just as Masayoshi Son campaigns to raise $500 billion for the Stargate artificial-intelligence project.

- Bloomberg

The Tokyo-based company reported a net loss of ¥369.2 billion ($2.4 billion) for the fiscal third quarter compared with a profit of ¥950 billion a year ago.

The Vision Fund unit logged a ¥309.9 billion loss, hurting the bottom line after shares of public holdings such as Coupang Inc. and Didi Global Inc. 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 OpenAI to invest $500 billion on the infrastructure needed to support and propel artificial intelligence development.

The Japanese billionaire is exploring project financing to raise money. One scenario under review is to raise 10% of the total sum through equity with senior loans contributing as much as 70%, Bloomberg News reported.