The Japanese SoftBank Group announced a reorganization of its assets, starting with the sale to the surprise of his participation in Nvidia so that we can continue to finance projects ranging from Stargate data center to the sites of robot production of artificial intelligence in the United States, while the group closed a quarter with theprofit more than doubled thanks above all to the earnings of its stakes in OpenAI.
Softbank CEO, Masayoshi Son, the richest man in Japan, has sold its entire stake in Nvidia, pocketing 5,83 billion dollarsSoftBank executives said the sale had nothing to do with Nvidia itself, but that the funds they serve to finance the expected ones investments in the artificial intelligence ecosystem, in which the group wants to become a leading player, by exploiting its stakes in key companies in the sector, from OpenAI to the American chip designer Ampere Computing, without showing concern about the possibility of a bubble in the technology sector. Always with the aim of raising funds, Softbank has planned thebond issue and the stipulation of bridging loans“I can't say whether we're in an AI bubble or not,” said the CFO. Yoshimitsu Goto During a earnings call on Tuesday, SoftBank added that it sold Nvidia "so that the capital can be used for our financing," according to US media reports, without providing further details.
SoftBank had already sold shares in Nvidia in 2019, three years before the advent of ChatGPT sparked a historic rally. It's unclear when SoftBank bought back shares since then, but when it last disclosed its stake in Nvidia, at the end of March, it was worth around $3 billion. Since then, Nvidia has gained over $2.000 trillion in market value.
Yesterday on Wall Street Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, rose 5,8%. Softbank today it gained almost 2%
Earnings far exceed expectations thanks to AI investments
This collection, together with theinvestment in OpenAI and in the startup Vision Fund, helped support the SoftBank profitsThe Japanese company has registered a Net income 2,5 trillion yen, or about 16,2 billion dollars, in second fiscal quarter, far exceeding analysts' average estimate of 418,2 billion yen. This compares with a profit of 1,18 trillion yen in the same period last year and represents SoftBank's best quarterly result since July-September 2022.
A 4-1 stock split starting in January will make shares more accessible.
Son's company boasts a wallet which includes some of the world's most sought-after names in the field of artificial intelligence in which it appears, as well as OpenAI also Oracle, ByteDance e Perplexity AIThese holdings not only increased the SoftBank stock earnings, but they also contributed to increase its share price by 78% in the three months ended in September, the best performance of its kind since the December quarter of 2005. The value of OpenAI alone has increased by $14,6 billion since SoftBank invested, Goto said.
The rush in all technology stocks has pushed up the price of SoftBank shares at record levels, nearly quadrupling their value in the last six months. This is why SoftBank has announced a stock splits with four to one ratio that will take place on 1 January to make the its most accessible actions.
Projects to be realized with mega-grossing earnings
Masayoshi Son is trying to capitalize on the growing investments in artificial intelligence and chips, with various initiatives including a planned investment of $30 billion in OpenAI and'purchase of the chip designer Ampere Computing for 6,5 billion dollars and the robotics division of Ab for $5,4 billion. Son is also courting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and other companies to engage them in participating in a $1 trillion AI manufacturing hub in ArizonaSoftBank has even considered acquiring the US chipmaker Marvell Technology earlier this year.
