SoftBank quarterly profit fell 18%, with Intel gains lifting results

SoftBank Group reported quarterly net profit of 347.3 billion yen for the period ended June, down 18% from a year earlier but well ahead of the market consensus of 166 billion yen. The gap was largely explained by a sizable unrealized gain on Intel shares, which SoftBank bought last year at $23 apiece. Intel rose 216% during the quarter, producing roughly 1.3 trillion yen, or about $8.5 billion, in unrealized investment gains. Those gains helped offset losses in parts of the Vision Fund portfolio and softer growth in profits tied to SoftBank’s OpenAI investment. At the same time, investor attention has turned to the group’s balance sheet as Masayoshi Son steps up spending on generative AI. SoftBank is expected to complete about $65 billion in cumulative investment in OpenAI by October. To fund that push, the company signed a one-year $40 billion bridge loan and arranged a $20 billion margin loan backed by its Arm stake. The report also highlighted broader concerns around the AI sector, including rising competition, uncertainty over business models after heavy infrastructure spending, and the impact of any delay to OpenAI’s IPO timeline on SoftBank’s valuation.