TOKYO— SoftBank Group Corp. rode red-hot stock markets to a big quarterly profit, largely on the back of investment gains at its $100 billion Vision Fund and its $10 billion successor.
The Japanese technology investor said Monday that it posted a net profit of ¥1.17 trillion, equivalent to about $11 billion, on investment gains of ¥1.77 trillion during the quarter ended Dec. 31. Nearly 80% of the investment gains were due to strong performance at Vision Funds 1 and 2.
Anticipation of strong results pushed SoftBank’s stock price up 4.4% to ¥9,485 Monday—a level last seen in February 2000, when the company’s shares peaked during the internet bubble.
“We’ve finally entered the harvest phase” for the Vision Fund, SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said at a Tokyo news conference, standing in front of a slide showing a goose laying towering columns of golden eggs that represented SoftBank’s investment hits.
The results highlight how much the boom in public markets over the past several months has benefited SoftBank, which during the past year completed its metamorphosis into an investment holding company from a telecommunications conglomerate. Climbing share prices last year helped SoftBank claw its way back into the black from a multibillion-dollar loss.