SoftBank Q1 Net Profit Beats Estimates as Intel Stake Yields $8.2 Billion Return

 

SoftBank Group reported its first-quarter earnings for the new fiscal year on Thursday (August 6), delivering net profit that topped market estimates, driven primarily by strong investment returns on its Intel holding.

 

Net profit for the June quarter reached 347.3 billion yen (~$2.2 billion), exceeding the consensus estimate of 120.23 billion yen, though declining nearly 18% year-over-year.

 

Notably, SoftBank recorded a 1.3 trillion yen (~$8.23 billion) gain on its equity stake in U.S. chipmaker Intel.

 

SoftBank announced a roughly $2 billion investment in Intel last year. Intel shares have surged nearly 400% over the past 12 months.

 

Meanwhile, the Vision Fund—whose portfolio spans from OpenAI to ByteDance—registered a $1.7 billion valuation gain during the quarter. The gain was buoyed by a $2.2 billion increase in the valuation of its ByteDance stake, offsetting markdowns across holdings such as PayPay.

Vision Fund Profit Drops 99%

On a less positive note, the Vision Fund segment posted a profit of just 5.4 billion yen (~$34.22 million) for the quarter, down 98.8% year-over-year from 451.4 billion yen (~$2.86 billion) in the prior-year period. SoftBank attributed the decline in part to its OpenAI investment generating zero net gain or loss for the quarter.

 

The result marks a sharp reversal from the previous quarter ending in March, when the Vision Fund generated roughly $20 billion in profit, almost entirely driven by gains in OpenAI.

 

SoftBank has consistently sought to anchor itself at the center of the AI boom through repeated investments in companies like OpenAI and semiconductor designer Arm.

 

However, market participants are increasingly scrutinizing corporate AI outlays, demanding tangible financial returns on capital deployed.

 

Drawn-out concerns over how SoftBank will continue funding its investment pipeline—alongside heavy concentration risks in Nvidia and OpenAI—have pressured the stock, which has pulled back approximately 34% from its June peak.