Saudi Arabia: Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. reported a record annual operating profit, in line with analyst estimates, buoyed by its investments in technology firms around the world.
The company’s CEO also confirmed the sale of a majority stake in India’s largest e-commerce company Flipkart — in which it owns a 20 percent stake — to US retail giant Walmart, in what is expected to be the world’s largest ever e-commerce acquisition.
Softbank’s profit for the year ended March rose to 1.3 trillion yen ($11.87 billion), from 1 trillion yen a year ago, the company said.
Steered by founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, SoftBank has become a top global technology investor as it looks to create a group of leading companies powered by interconnected devices and artificial intelligence.
SoftBank’s private equity Vision Fund — backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company — had invested $29.7 billion in 25 tech firms, such as dog-walking app Wag and construction startup Katerra, as of the end of March.
Separately, SoftBank has invested a total of $12.9 billion in ridesharing firms Uber and Didi Chuxing, the company said on Wednesday, adding that these investments may be offered to the Vision Fund at a later date.
The telecoms and tech firm has also attracted financing from tech firms including Apple, Sharp, Foxconn and Qualcomm, to create the Vision Fund. As of last May, it had raised over $93 billion, making it the world’s largest private equity fund.
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