SoftBank Investment (Part 1): Masayoshi Son's "Golden Egg" Yields Big Profits

SoftBank Group launched its ¥100 trillion Vision Fund in 2017. In 2019, it established Fund No. 2. As of the end of September, the total investment in the two funds had increased to $163.2 billion (approximately 25.3 trillion yen), with pre-tax investment gains reaching about 3.7 trillion yen……

The funds under Japan’s SoftBank Group (SBG)—the SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF)—have performed strongly. Although they faced difficulties at one point, the listing of the “golden egg” nurtured by Chairman and President Masayoshi Son helped SoftBank Group achieve a new profit high in the April–September period of 2025. The solid performance of the Vision Fund has strengthened SoftBank Group’s financial capacity, supporting large-scale investments in artificial intelligence (AI) fields such as U.S.-based OpenAI.

“Comrade-style integration”

At the November earnings briefing, SoftBank Group’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Yoshimitsu Goto said, “For the first time in a long while, I’ve experienced a fall that finally allows me to breathe easier,” revealing his inner feelings. This is because, after years of setbacks—including the bankruptcy of U.S. WeWork—the investment gains from the Vision Fund recovered to nearly 3 trillion yen in the consolidated financial results for July through September.

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