Softbank Group 4% Call 19.09.2029 ISIN XS1684385591

UPDATE 1-With Alibaba stake cut, SoftBank's Son cools toward China tech
Oggi 12:22 - RSF
(Adds detail on shares)
By Sam Nussey
TOKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp's decision to sell down its Alibaba Group Holding stake for a $34 billion gain may be aimed at bolstering its finances, but it also underlines how CEO Masayoshi Son has cooled on China tech.

Son was formerly one of the sector's biggest cheerleaders and Alibaba is his most famous bet, immensely profitable and for his fans, symbolic of his foresight and investing acumen.

Amid a sharp market downturn, however, Son will reduce his conglomerate's stake in Alibaba to 14.6% from 23.7% by settling prepaid forward contracts, although the Chinese firm remains SoftBank's largest asset. (news)

"It seems like they're saying 'we think the outlook for China tech is pretty poor so we're going to get in front of that'," said Redex Research analyst Kirk Boodry.

A rough ride for Chinese tech companies after a regulatory crackdown that started in late 2020 has been exacerbated by tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Alibaba has been added to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's delisting watchlist as a result of a dispute over auditing compliance issues for U.S.-listed Chinese firms.

Murky prospects for the Chinese economy as Beijing pursues a zero-COVID policy that has led to stringent lockdowns have also not helped. Since the regulatory crackdown, Alibaba's shares have fallen by more than two thirds to value the company at $250 billion.

"We have to watch (Chinese) government policy with caution and not be reckless," Son told shareholders in June.

Son's pullback contrasts with earlier optimism towards China tech that saw him pour $12 billion into ride-hailer Didi through the first $100 billion Vision Fund, which also made outsized investments in Uber and office space firm WeWork .

Didi angered Chinese regulators by pushing ahead with a New York initial public offering and is now traded over-the-counter after delisting.

SoftBank was forced to cut the valuation and, after a series of high profile reversals, Son reduced the size of individual investments made through a smaller second fund.

As of end-June, SoftBank had booked a $9.3 billion gross investment loss on Didi.

SoftBank's other Chinese bets include Full Truck Alliance (YMM.N) and JD Logistics .

The conglomerate is also the top shareholder in AI firm SenseTime , which has been blacklisted by Washington over human rights concerns.

Sensetime shares fell by almost half at the expiry of a lock-up period in late June.

This week, SoftBank announced it had exited KE Holdings , which operates Chinese property platform Beike, at an average price per share of $23.89 compared to a cost price of $12.91.

The conglomerate has pledged to preserve cash and cut costs as it booked a $50 billion loss at its Vision Fund investment arm in the six months to end-June. (news)

TikTok operator ByteDance is also an investment and has been highlighted as one of eight assets in the first Vision fund with potential upside.

The Beijing-headquartered company, which has received scrutiny in the West over its management of user data, does not currently have a timeline for its much-anticipated IPO, Reuters reported previously.
Alibaba "is the only 'representative mega-win' investment in the portfolio for now," Quiddity Advisors analyst Travis Lundy wrote in a note on Smartkarma.

Without it SoftBank is "less interesting because very little of the portfolio now reflects any sort of "special sauce" of forward-thinking investment," he wrote.

For now, however, using capital to buy SoftBank's own shares is a priority for Son. The company has announced a 400 billion yen ($3 billion) share buyback in addition to the current 1 trillion yen programme which is due to expire in November.

SoftBank shares closed up 5.6% on Friday, the first trading day after the Alibaba deal was announced late on Wednesday. The conglomerate's shares have gained 3.2% year to date.

($1 = 133.2000 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; editing by Edwina Gibbs)
(([email protected];))
 
OKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Shares in SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) rose 5% in morning trading in Tokyo on Friday after the Japanese conglomerate said it would book a $34.1 billion gain by trimming its stake in Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK), .

SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is moving to shore up his group's cash reserves and accelerating asset sales after the Vision Fund investment arm booked a $50 billion loss in the six months to June-end as the value of his tech portfolio collapsed.


Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares rose 2.6% on Thursday, when the Tokyo market was closed for a national holiday.

Reporting by Sam Nussey Editing by Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
 
UPDATE 3-Activist investor Elliott sells down remaining SoftBank stake -FT
Oggi 08:10 - RSF
(Adds details of investment)
Aug 16 (Reuters) - Activist investor Elliott Management has sold almost all its remaining shares in SoftBank Group Corp after previously investing as much as $2.5 billion, the Financial Times said on Tuesday, citing unidentified sources.

Elliott had already cut back its stake as the Japanese conglomerate's shares appreciated, supported by a record buyback programme. SoftBank's portfolio has subsequently been hit by a collapse in tech valuations as investors turn sceptical on the high-growth stocks it favours.

SoftBank's shares exceeded dot-com bubble highs in March 2021 but have lost almost half their value as its portfolio slid. The group this month reported a loss of $50 billion at its Vision Fund investment arm in the six months to June-end.

The exact size and timing of the recent sell-down was unknown but it took place earlier this year as SoftBank was affected by the tech downturn, the paper said, citing one of the sources.

Elliott had built its stake into one of its largest-ever positions in a company, calling for SoftBank to buy back stock and increase the independence of its board.

SoftBank declined to comment, while Elliott did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shares of SoftBank fell about 2.5% versus a flat broader market

($1 = 133.4400 yen)

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru and Sam Nussey and Makiko Yamazaki in Tokyo; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Christopher Cushing and Uttaresh.V)
(([email protected];))
 
RPT-BREAKINGVIEWS-Elliott’s SoftBank exit could be premature
17/08/2022 02:47 - RSF
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own.)
LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Masayoshi Son no longer has an activist at the gates of his $74 billion technology empire. Elliott Management, Paul Singer’s uppity hedge fund, earlier this year sold down most of its remaining stake in Son’s SoftBank Group , according to the Financial Times Subscribe to read | Financial Times.

It marks the end of a more than two-year bet, originally worth $2.5 billion, which was premised on the Vision Fund and Arm owner narrowing the discount to the sum of its parts by selling off assets and buying back shares.

As Breakingviews predicted Wanted: bold activist to take on Masayoshi Son
before Elliott’s stake became public, there was serious money to be made from closing that gap. Son started liquidating some assets after the initial Covid panic and used the proceeds for buybacks, which allowed Elliott to reduce its holding last year for a $500 million profit, the New York Post reported Paul Singer’s hedge fund cuts Softbank stake, profits despite Chinese tech crackdown.

More recently, however, Son has suffered departures of senior executives (news)
, and has been hit by the tech rout, which erased $40 billion in previously announced gains (news)
. Elliott’s decision to sell reflected a loss of confidence in Son’s ability to lead a turnaround, the FT said.

The question is whether the activist has given up too easily. SoftBank last week decided to massively reduce its holding in e-commerce giant Alibaba , which amounted to slaying a sacred cow at SoftBank (news)
. If that means Son is serious about a bigger breakup of the group, Elliott’s exit may come to seem premature. (By Karen Kwok)

Follow @Breakingviews https://twitter.com/Breakingviews on Twitter

Capital Calls - More concise insights on global finance:
New Philips CEO can take inspiration from old one (news)

Tencent raids its pantry ahead of lean tech times (news)

Adam Neumann’s startup leases WeWork model (news)

Illumina’s Grail quest looks increasingly unholy (news)

Samsung’s de facto leader will be a tad emboldened (news)


(Editing by Liam Proud and Pranav Kiran)
((SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS: Top News Signup))
 
UPDATE 1-Shares in Indonesian tech firm GoTo tumble after huge first-half loss
31/08/2022 07:23 - RSF
(Updates shares and add analyst comment)
JAKARTA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Shares of Indonesia's largest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk fell on Wednesday by as much as 6.8%, a day after it reported heavy interim losses and warned of a volatile market outlook.

The company, which went public in April with a $1.1 billion stock sale, is seeking to raise a fresh $1 billion in the debt market, Reuters reported on Tuesday, as deepening losses threaten to stretch its financial health. (news)

GoTo, formed last year by the merger of ride-hailing-to-payments firm Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia, said on Tuesday its half-year net loss more than doubled to nearly $1 billion. (news)

"We need to pay attention to the firm’s (cash) burn rate and how long it will continue," said Maximilianus Nico Demus, an analyst at brokerage firm PT Pilarmas Investindo Sekuritas, adding revenue growth was strong but the pace of increases in marketing costs was faster.

Shares in GoTo fell to as low as 302 rupiah and were last down 6.2% at 304 rupiah. The company, backed by the likes of SoftBank Group Corp , Alibaba Group and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, has lost around 10% of its value since its initial public offering in April.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Tom Hogue and Edwina Gibbs)
(([email protected];))
 
UPDATE 3-Arm sues Qualcomm, aiming to unwind Qualcomm's $1.4 bln Nuvia purchase
Oggi 00:34 - RSF
(Adds comment from Qualcomm)
By Stephen Nellis and Jane Lanhee Lee
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Chip technology firm Arm Ltd, which is owned by Softbank Group Corp , on Wednesday said it had sued Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) and Qualcomm's recently acquired chip design firm Nuvia Inc for breach of license agreements and trademark infringement.

Arm is seeking an injunction that would require Qualcomm to destroy designs developed under Nuvia’s license agreements with Arm. Arm alleged its approval was needed before these could be transferred to Qualcomm.

Qualcomm, which acquired Nuvia for $1.4 billion last year, said Arm has no right to interfere with Qualcomm’s or NUVIA's innovations. "Arm’s complaint ignores the fact that Qualcomm has broad, well-established license rights covering its custom-designed CPU’s, and we are confident those rights will be affirmed,” said Ann Chaplin, General Counsel of Qualcomm in a statement.

If Arm's effort is successful it would essentially unwind one of Qualcomm's biggest strategic acquisitions in recent years.
The lawsuit represents a major break between Qualcomm and Arm, one of Qualcomm's most important technology partners.

Qualcomm has relied on Arm since it stopped designing its own custom computing cores. But in recent years, the companies have been at odds.

Some inside Qualcomm have privately complained that Arm’s pace of innovation is slackening, causing Qualcomm’s chips to fall behind Apple’s processors in performance.

Qualcomm bought Nuvia, founded by former Apple chip architects, to reboot its efforts to make custom computing cores that would be different from standard Arm designs used by rivals such as Taiwan chip designer MediaTek Inc. .

One of Qualcomm's first goals with Nuvia's technology is to challenge Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O). in the PC and laptop markets which they now dominate.

Qualcomm acquired Nuvia shortly after Apple ditched Intel to begin using its own chips, which are also based on Arm technology, in its Mac laptops.

Apple's move reinvigorated Mac sales, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told Reuters he wanted to use Nuvia's Arm-based designs to do the same thing for the Windows-based laptop market. Arm would still make more money because Qualcomm pays it a royalty on each chip it sells that uses its technology. But it is possible the royalty rates could be lower under Nuvia's deal with Arm.

The arrangement highlights how much the two companies depend on each other, said Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research
"Qualcomm’s opportunity moving forward with the PC (and potentially server) business is utterly dependent on Nuvia designs, and Nuvia is the primary means by which Arm can get into Windows PCs. So the companies really need to partner well if they want to have a meaningful impact on the PC market," he said.

The deal was seen as a way for Qualcomm to lessen its reliance on Arm. In the past, most of Qualcomm's chips have used computing cores licensed directly from Arm, while Nuvia's cores use Arm's underlying architecture but are custom designs.

For Qualcomm, using more custom core designs - a move that Apple has also made - could lower some licensing costs to Arm in the short term and make it easier to move to a rival architecture in the longer term.

A source close to Arm said that its licenses with Qualcomm were not in dispute and that only technology developed under Nuvia's licenses was being contested in the lawsuit.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Ellis; Editing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)
(([email protected]; +1-415-344-3912; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))
 
BORSA TOKYO-Nikkei tocca i minimi di un mese su crollo produttori chip
Oggi 09:24 - RSF
TOKYO, 1 settembre (Reuters) - La Borsa di Tokyo ha chiuso in ribasso, trascinata dalle perdite dei titoli legati ai chip dopo che Nvidia è crollata nella notte a causa della richiesta degli Stati Uniti di bloccare le vendite dei più avanzati chip di intelligenza artificiale alla Cina.

** Il Nikkei

** I titoli statunitensi hanno chiuso il mese di agosto con il quarto calo giornaliero consecutivo, consolidando la performance più debole degli ultimi sette anni, a causa del persistere delle preoccupazioni per un aumento aggressivo dei tassi di interesse da parte della Federal Reserve. [.N]
** In Giappone, i produttori di chip TOKYO ELECTRON e ADVANTEST hanno perso rispettivamente il 3,35% e il 4%.

** Anche altri pesi massimi sono scesi con UNIQLO FAST RETAILING che ha perso l'1,45% e SOFTBANK che è scivolato dello 0,93%.



(Tradotto da Chiara Bontacchio, editing Francesca Piscioneri)
(([email protected]))
 
UPDATE 2-SoftBank to cut at least 20% of Vision Fund staff - BBG
02/09/2022 16:46 - RSF
(Adds company statement)
TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp plans to cut at least 20% of staff at its Vision Fund investment arm, Bloomberg reported on Friday, after Chief Executive Masayoshi Son pledged to cut costs after a record $50 billion loss at the unit in the half year to June 30.

The conglomerate will cut at least 100 positions and could announce the reductions as early as this month, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

A SoftBank spokesperson said: "As Masa said at our most recent earnings (briefing), we are reviewing the organization size and structure. However, nothing has been decided yet."
SoftBank has scaled back investing activity, with Son last month saying he would cut Vision Fund's workforce and reduce costs across the group. "We need to cut costs with no sacred areas," Son said. (news)


(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey)
(([email protected];))
 
UPDATE 1-SoftBank plans $35 mln bet on India's GoMechanic - sources
06/09/2022 12:07 - RSF
(Adds source comments)
By M. Sriram
MUMBAI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group is in talks to invest $35 million in Indian car service and repair firm GoMechanic, in what would be one of the Japanese investor's smallest bets in India by its Vision Fund, which typically signs bigger cheques, two sources told Reuters.

SoftBank has for years been a prominent backer of Indian startups, investing close to $4 billion last year alone, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Its big-ticket investments include digital payments firm Paytm and online education firm Unacademy.

But investment industry executives say SoftBank has started taking a more measured approach to its investments after a global tech rout. Last month, its boss Masayoshi Son said SoftBank would invest much less this year than in 2021, following a record $26.2 billion quarterly loss at its Vision Fund on falling tech valuations. (news)

Vision Fund's early-stage talks with GoMechanic are being held around a valuation of $600-700 million, with Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah and existing investor Tiger Global also planning to invest in the $100 million funding round, said the two sources familiar with the matter, who declined to be named as the talks are private.

GoMechanic and SoftBank declined to comment, while Khazanah and Tiger Global did not respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg News has previously reported Khazanah's interest in the funding round.

Founded in 2016, GoMechanic has serviced and repaired more than two million cars in India through its service centers, and says it costs 40% less than automakers' own offerings.

SoftBank has been in discussions with GoMechanic for more than nine months and was initially uncomfortable with the Indian firm's valuation request of $1 billion, said the first source.

GoMechanic was valued at $300 million last year, and currently has a gross annual revenue of around $40 million, the person added.

In May, two sources told Reuters that SoftBank's Son had started telling executives to invest smaller sums at earlier stages and spend more time on due diligence.

SoftBank executives began focusing in early 2022 on early-stage investments, with deals around $50 million or less, a change in strategy from before when it typically did larger late-stage deals, the sources added.

SoftBank's second Vision Fund of $40 billion is smaller than its first $100 billion vehicle. It announced in August it would limit the second fund to managing its current portfolio of investments.

(Reporting by M. Sriram; Additional reporting by Fanny Potkin; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Mark Potter)
(([email protected];))
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Alto