SoftBank Group Net Profit Doubles, Sells Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion — Update

By Kosaku Narioka

SoftBank Group reported a more than doubling in quarterly net profit, thanks to billions of dollars of gains from its OpenAI investment, and said it sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.8 billion last month.

The Japanese technology investment company on Tuesday reported net profit of 2.502 trillion yen, equivalent to $16.23 billion, for the three months ended September, up sharply from Y1.180 trillion a year earlier. That beat the Y480.00 billion estimate in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.

SoftBank also said the company and its asset-management subsidiary sold all their shares in Nvidia for $5.83 billion in October.

It said it booked gains of Y2.157 trillion from its investment in the ChatGPT maker.

SoftBank Group has been leading an investment of up to $40 billion in OpenAI, with plans to syndicate out $10 billion to co-investors. On Tuesday it said co-investors had committed to the entire syndication amount, and that it will invest an additional $22.5 billion in OpenAI through its Vision Fund 2 in December.

OpenAI has recently converted to a more traditional corporate structure, a move that will make it easier for the ChatGPT maker to raise money and attract talent.

In September, OpenAI announced five new data-center sites across the U.S., as part of its $500 billion Stargate project with SoftBank and Oracle.

SoftBank and OpenAI have teamed up to offer AI services, initially targeting Japanese businesses to lay the groundwork for potential expansion worldwide.

The Tokyo-based company, led by billionaire Masayoshi Son, has been making bolder investments in artificial intelligence over the past year, reversing a yearslong defensive strategy.

SoftBank Group in October agreed to acquire Swiss industrial giant ABB's robotics business for $5.4 billion, aiming to combine the potential of AI with robots. In August, the Japanese company's payments app operator PayPay submitted paperwork for an initial public offering in the U.S., a move that could add to SoftBank's coffers as it pours billions into AI-related investments.

Last week, U.K. chip-design unit Arm Holdings reported a more than doubling in fiscal second-quarter profit as revenue jumped, driven by demand for its compute platform.

SoftBank Group's shares have more than doubled this year, driven by expectations the companies it has invested in will benefit from broader use of AI in the global economy. The stock has also been boosted by hopes that Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a supporter of AI and other high-tech sectors, will take steps to promote the use of the technology.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 11, 2025 03:30 ET (08:30 GMT)