“Soft Bank” returns to profitability and achieves a net income of $6.6 billion.

Japanese group “SoftBank” returned to profitability for the first time in 5 quarters on Thursday, as the technology investment company received support from the rise of portfolio companies, raising hopes that it has emerged from a period of decline.

The group’s net profit reached 985.5 billion yen ($6.6 billion) in the three months until December, compared to a loss of 744.7 billion yen in the same period of the previous year.

“Soft Bank’s stocks surged by 11% on Thursday, reaching their highest level since September 2021. This increase was driven by optimistic revenue expectations presented by the chip design unit, ARM, overnight.”

The “SoftBank” group, founded by CEO Masayoshi Son, and its investment arm, “Vision Fund”, have experienced a period of reduced investment activity and asset sales. High-growth startups were particularly affected, given the high interest-rate environment that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the results of “Soft Bank” are often volatile, the numbers on Thursday may provide investors with some reassurance. The “Vision” branch, which is closely monitored by Soft Bank, achieved investment profits amounting to 600.73 billion yen.

Rolf Balc, an analyst at “New Street Research”, said, “There are higher valuations in recent funding rounds for (Vision Fund) companies, suggesting a positive turn in the technology startup environment.”

The “Soft Bank” group has strengthened its new investment activity, including 309 billion yen alongside its fully-owned subsidiary companies, in addition to 1.45 billion dollars in the new “Vision” fund investments.

Soft Bank also realized gains of $1.825 billion from its American T-Mobile stock, which it acquired last year after meeting the conditions stated in its 2020 deal to sell American mobile company Sprint to T-Mobile.

It is known that Son made wise bets on emerging technologies like mobile internet and big names today like the e-commerce platform “Alibaba”, which helped transform “SoftBank” into a technological investment powerhouse.