On May 13, SoftBank Group announced an unexpected increase in quarterly profit, mainly driven by a rise in the valuation of its investment in OpenAI. The Tokyo-headquartered technology conglomerate posted net profit of 1.83 trillion yen ($11.6 billion) in the fourth fiscal quarter, while analysts’ average expectation was 295.2 billion yen. Net sales were 2.08 trillion yen, versus the market estimate of 2.04 trillion yen. The increase in OpenAI’s valuation boosted SoftBank’s performance, while conflict in the Middle East disrupted the market. During this period, the share prices of SoftBank’s major listed companies, including Coupang and Grab Holdings, all fell, affecting the company’s earnings.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has been cutting his stake holdings and increasing SoftBank’s debt burden to pay for its ever-expanding investments in artificial intelligence. The billionaire unveiled ambitious plans involving investments in thousands of billions of dollars in data centers, while also pledging that by the end of the year SoftBank’s total investment in OpenAI would be raised to $64.6 billion. $ETH
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