Despite some setbacks, Softbank remains optimistic about its investments in AI. The company's CEO, Masayoshi Son, believes that their bullish bets on generative AI will help the company "rule the world". However, not all of Softbank’s AI startups have been successful, with shares in Chinese AI firm SenseTime plummeting over 57% last year.
Key takeaways:
- Softbank posted a surprise net loss of 477.6 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in the second quarter, mainly due to declines in the share prices of Alibaba, Deutsche Telekom, and T-Mobile.
- The Softbank Vision Fund (SVF) posted positive results with gains of 159.8 billion yen ($1.1 billion), including gains associated with SVF’s investments in shares of Softbank’s subsidiaries.
- Softbank's CEO, Masayoshi Son, is optimistic about the company's investments in AI, despite some of its AI startups, like SenseTime, not performing well.
- Softbank's private portfolio companies have a fair value of $61.3 billion, up from $60.5 billion in the prior quarter, and its listed portfolio companies have a fair value of $25.4 billion, up from $24.9 billion in the prior quarter.