ZCZC
BCN-20
JAPAN-COMPANY-EARNINGS-SOFTBANK
SoftBank posts eight-fold jump in first-half net profit
TOKYO, Nov 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Japan’s SoftBank Group said Monday it
logged an eight-fold jump in net profit in the six months to September thanks
to strong returns from its investment funds.
Net profit rose to 840 billion yen ($7.4 billion) from 103 billion yen
during the same period last year, the Japanese mobile giant and IT investor
said.
The rise was largely driven by gains of 649 billion yen from the SoftBank
Vision Fund, which compared to 194 billion yen in the previous period.
Under tycoon CEO Masayoshi Son, SoftBank, which started as a software
firm, has increasingly been seen as an investment firm, ploughing funds into
a broad range of companies and projects outside its core business.
In recent years, it has completed deals with the likes of French robotics
firm Aldebaran and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Nearly half of the money in the SoftBank Vision Fund comes from Saudi
Arabia and there has been a pledge of another $45 billion this year.
But Son was missing from a high-profile Saudi investment forum last month
along with dozens of global business titans amid concerns that journalist
Jamal Khashoggi may have been killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
BSS/AFP/HR/1230