SoftBank Posts $1.6B Profit as OpenAI Bet Pays Off Big
Vision Fund's $2.4B quarterly gain driven largely by surging OpenAI valuation, offsetting other portfolio losses.
SoftBank is back in the black. The Japanese investment giant reported $1.6 billion in net profit for Q3, powered by a strong quarter at its Vision Fund unit.
The Vision Fund posted a $2.4 billion gain in the December quarter. The star of the show? OpenAI. The ChatGPT maker's soaring valuation gave SoftBank's books a serious boost.
Not everything in the portfolio performed well, though. The OpenAI windfall helped paper over losses from other bets that didn't pan out as nicely.
It's a familiar pattern for SoftBank's mega-fund strategy: swing big, hope the winners cover the losers. This quarter, the math worked out. OpenAI's AI dominance continues to ripple through the investment world, turning early believers into very happy stakeholders.