SoftBank records third consecutive quarter of profit at $16.2B in Q2
The Japanese conglomerate's second-quarter results come a day after portfolio company Lenskart listed on public bourses yesterday, with SoftBank expected to net Rs 987 crore from its early bet in the eyewear retailer.
Sayan Sen
Tuesday November 11, 2025 , 2 min Read
SoftBank Group Corp on Tuesday reported a profit of 2.5 trillion yen ($16.22 billion) in the July to September quarter, helped by gains on its Vision Fund investment arms, through which the Japanese conglomerate has backed some of the biggest tech companies in the world. This is the company’s best H1 income results since 2007.
The company, led by Masayoshi Son, made 2.4 trillion yen ($15.6 billion) profit on investments at SoftBank Vision Fund—the investment unit through which the firm backs companies—during this period, despite SoftBank Vision Fund II continuing to rack up realised losses on investments. This is the company's third consecutive quarter of profit.
SoftBank Vision Fund II includes food-tech major Swiggy, EV-maker Ola Electric, and the newly-listed Lenskart in its India portfolio.
Under SVF2, the company noted that the fair value of its investments was up 11.2% quarter-on-quarter for its public portfolio companies, mainly due to share price increases for Symbiotic and Ola Electric. It noted that the fair value of its private portfolio companies under SV42 was up 17%, largely driven by the rise in OpenAI’s fair value.
In recent months, SoftBank has shifted its focus to artificial intelligence companies, heavily investing in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. It also has a joint venture with OpenAI, Oracle, and others to build massive AI infrastructures in the US.
Meanwhile, in India, the Japanese investment company has been eyeing exits as it has paused new investments for over three years now. SoftBank saw three of its biggest India portfolio companies—Swiggy, Ola Electric, and Firstcry—get listed last year. While the investor sold its holdings through these IPOs in Ola Electric, and Firstcry, it hasn’t sold a share in food-tech major Swiggy.
On Monday, eyewear maker Lenskart listed on India’s stock exchanges in what was a tepid listing, despite an oversubscribed IPO amid reports of high valuation concerns.
SoftBank, however, sold over 25 million shares and took home Rs 987 crore ($110 million), a 5X return on the investment. The Japanese investment conglomerate still has over 13% in the company, which translates into a fair value of close to a billion dollars.
The windfall from Lenskart will reflect in the Japanese investment conglomerate’s December quarter earnings.
During the second quarter, SVF1 and SVF2 sold investments for a total of $4.83 billion, including full exits from 13 portfolio companies.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti