SoftBank Says Skipping AI Is Riskier Than Betting Big

Japanese investment holding company SoftBank Group (OTC:SFTBF) (OTC:SFTBY) reported second-quarter results on Tuesday.

The company reported quarterly net sales of 1.92 trillion Japanese yen ($12.99 billion), up from 1.77 trillion yen ($11.77 billion) a year ago.

SoftBank segment net sales grew 7.8% to 1.74 trillion yen ($11.82 billion).

Also Read: Nvidia, AI Bets Lift SoftBank To Profit After Brutal Year-Ago Loss

Arm Revenue, Profit Surge

Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ:ARM) net sales rose 32.0% to 167.4 billion yen ($1.13 billion). The division reported a profit of 32.30 billion yen ($2.19 billion) compared to a loss of 6.34 billion yen a year ago.

The income before tax for SoftBank was 2.996 trillion yen.

SoftBank’s net income was 2.50 trillion yen (or $16.96 billion), compared to a profit of 1.18 trillion yen a year ago. The gain on investments was 3.44 trillion yen (or $23.32 billion).

Stake Sales: Nvidia, T-Mobile US

The Japanese conglomerate sold its entire stake in U.S. chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), selling 32.1 million shares for $5.83 billion as it prioritized its OpenAI investment.

It also disclosed that it sold part of its T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) stake for $9.17 billion.

Vision Fund investments reported a 2.76 trillion yen profit (or $18.68 billion), compared to 0.57 trillion yen a year ago.

Shareholder Returns

Under the 500 billion yen share repurchase program, SoftBank completed buybacks in August 2025, acquiring 330.3 billion yen worth of its own shares (~42 million shares).

The company bought fewer shares than the authorized maximum due to a rise in its share price. On October 31, 2025, SoftBank retired the same shares repurchased under the program.

Following the second quarter, on November 11, 2025, SoftBank’s board approved a four-for-one share split to make its stock more accessible and expand its shareholder base. The record date for the split is December 31, 2025.

Management Commentary on AI Investments

CFO Yoshimitsu Goto declined to comment on the specific timing of the Nvidia stake sale. He told Reuters SoftBank’s investment in OpenAI was very large, requiring the company to use its existing assets to finance new investments.

Addressing concerns about a potential “AI bubble,” Goto said that while various opinions exist, SoftBank’s position is that the risk of not investing is far greater than the risk of investing.

Price Action: SFTBY shares rose 2.74% on Monday to close at $72.40.

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