SoftBank Swings to Quarterly Loss

SoftBank Group Corp sank into losses for the latest quarter, the Japanese technology company reported Tuesday, as worries about investments in artificial intelligence hurt its bottom line.

SoftBank Group racked up a 1.1 trillion yen loss for the three months through September, a reversal from the 2.5 trillion yen in profit the same period a year earlier. Quarterly sales rose 16 percent to 2.2 trillion yen from 1.9 trillion yen.

Analysts say the financial results for a company like SoftBank Group are difficult to predict as it invests in a variety of other companies, including OpenAI and Arm Holdings, whose fortunes tend to be volatile.

Founded by Masayoshi Son, SoftBank was an early investor in internet technology, and has focused on companies related to AI, telecommunications, robotics ande-commerce.

It runs a series of investment funds called Vision Fund that center around a portfolio of various technology companies, including startups.

Son, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, boasts a wide circle of friends among American entrepreneurs including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. That is relatively unusual for a businessperson in Japan.