{"id":47638,"date":"2026-02-12T11:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/softbank-vision-fund-boosted-by-openai-surge-as-bytedance-and-didi-drag\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:35:30","slug":"softbank-vision-fund-boosted-by-openai-surge-as-bytedance-and-didi-drag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/softbank-vision-fund-boosted-by-openai-surge-as-bytedance-and-didi-drag\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank Vision Fund boosted by OpenAI surge as ByteDance and Didi drag"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SoftBank Group returned to profit in the December quarter as gains tied to OpenAI lifted its Vision Fund, helping counter losses across other technology bets. <\/p>\n

The Japanese investment firm reported a sharp rise in the value of its OpenAI stake, even as investments in Coupang, Didi, and ByteDance weighed on performance.<\/p>\n

The Vision Fund recorded a $2.4 billion gain in SoftBank\u2019s fiscal third quarter, which ended in December. <\/p>\n

That supported a broader turnaround in group earnings, although the company still fell short of analyst expectations.<\/p>\n

The results<\/a> underline how central OpenAI has become to SoftBank\u2019s portfolio strategy as it deepens its exposure to artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

OpenAI valuation jump drives gains<\/h2>\n

SoftBank said it booked a $4.2 billion gain on its OpenAI investment during the quarter. Over the April to December period, the cumulative gain on OpenAI reached $17 billion.<\/p>\n

The group has invested more than $30 billion in the ChatGPT developer and owns roughly 11% of the company. <\/p>\n

The jump in valuation helped offset declines in other listed holdings, including South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang and Chinese ride-hailing app Didi.<\/p>\n

Losses were also affected by a markdown in SoftBank\u2019s stake in TikTok parent ByteDance. <\/p>\n

Despite those setbacks, the Vision Fund posted a net gain for the quarter.<\/p>\n

Net profit returns despite estimate miss<\/h2>\n

SoftBank Group reported a fiscal third-quarter net profit of 248.6 billion yen, about $1.6 billion. That marked a reversal from a loss in the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n

However, the result came in below analyst forecasts. Even so, the return to profitability reflects the scale of the uplift in OpenAI\u2019s valuation and its impact on the wider portfolio.<\/p>\n

SoftBank has positioned its Vision Fund around artificial intelligence companies it believes can become category leaders. <\/p>\n

The strategy aims to anchor the group at the centre of AI development, with OpenAI as a flagship investment.<\/p>\n

Funding bets and asset sales<\/h2>\n

Investors have been watching how SoftBank will finance further commitments, particularly as OpenAI remains unprofitable. <\/p>\n

The company has been selling down other holdings to channel capital into its AI strategy.<\/p>\n

In October, SoftBank sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.83 billion. Between June and December, it also disposed of $12.73 billion worth of T-Mobile stock.<\/p>\n

The group has taken out loans backed by other assets, including chip designer Arm. <\/p>\n

At the same time, competition in AI is intensifying, with Google and Anthropic emerging as major rivals to OpenAI.<\/p>\n

AI computing segment takes shape<\/h2>\n

SoftBank said it has created a new reporting division called the AI Computing Segment. <\/p>\n

This unit includes Arm, along with semiconductor businesses Graphcore and Ampere, both acquired by the group.<\/p>\n

The segment recorded a loss of 91.8 billion yen in the nine months ending in December. <\/p>\n

SoftBank attributed this to higher headcount and acquisition-related costs linked to Ampere.<\/p>\n

The company views Arm and its chip assets as central to expanding into areas such as robotics, driverless cars, and data centres.<\/p>\n

SoftBank shares rose this week after strong results from its telecommunications unit and a rally in Arm\u2019s stock price, supporting investor sentiment.<\/p>\n

The post SoftBank Vision Fund boosted by OpenAI surge as ByteDance and Didi drag<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SoftBank Group returned to profit in the December quarter as gains tied to OpenAI lifted its Vision Fund, helping counter losses across other technology bets. The Japanese investment firm reported a sharp rise in the value of its OpenAI stake, even as investments in Coupang, Didi, and ByteDance weighed on performance. The Vision Fund recorded <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-47638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}