Net Profit of SoftBank Group Estimated to Have Soared

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on April 21 that SoftBank Group’s net profit for 2020 is estimated at slightly less than five trillion yen, a level no Japanese company has ever reached.

According to SMBC Nikko Securities, Toyota posted a net profit of approximately 2.5 trillion yen in 2018 and no Japanese company has broken the record so far. SoftBank Group is expected to have broken it last year.

The group’s red ink amounted to one trillion yen in 2019 due to Vision Fund investment failures. However, COVID-19 led to more telecommuting and the profits of Internet companies invested by the fund soared along with the group’s profit.

The rebound was led by the group’s investment in Coupang. According to market sources, the value of SoftBank Group’s stake in Coupang is estimated at US$30 billion, about 1,000 percent of the investment it made. It is the group’s second-highest return on investment behind the case of Alibaba Group.

The Vision Fund invested approximately US$3 billion in Coupang in 2015 and 2018. The former is currently the largest shareholder in the latter with a holding of 33.1 percent.