Son Jeong-ui Shakes Off Humiliation After One Year... SoftBank Ranks 3rd Worldwide in Net Profit (Comprehensive)

SoftBank Group's 2020 Net Profit 4.9879 Trillion Yen (Approx. 51.5 Trillion KRW)
3rd Largest Last Year After Apple and Aramco by Net Profit
Record High Among Japanese Companies... Vision Fund, Once a Burden, Becomes a Savior

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] SoftBank Group (SBG), led by Chairman Masayoshi Son, posted a net profit exceeding 50 trillion yen last year, marking the largest ever for a Japanese company. This ranks third globally, following the United States' Apple and Saudi Aramco. After consecutive investment failures, Chairman Son redeemed himself within a year.

SBG announced on the 12th that it recorded a net profit of 4.9879 trillion yen (approximately 51.5 trillion KRW) on a consolidated basis for the 2020 fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021).

This ranks third among global companies last year, behind Apple (approximately 6.1905 trillion yen) and Saudi Aramco (approximately 5.2618 trillion yen). It is twice the net profit earned by Samsung Electronics last year (approximately 26.4078 trillion KRW). It is the largest ever for a Japanese company. The previous record was 2.5 trillion yen set by Toyota in 2017.

In terms of net profit, SBG surpassed Microsoft (4.7882 trillion yen), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (4.7499 trillion yen), Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (4.5399 trillion yen), and Google (4.2994 trillion yen).

In the 2019 fiscal year, SBG recorded a historic loss of 961.5 billion yen due to Chairman Son's consecutive investment failures. The Vision Fund, which had been a burden for SoftBank, became a major contributor within a year. Investment gains through SoftBank’s Vision Fund and others reached 7.529 trillion yen (approximately 77.8 trillion KRW).

Especially, the global stock market boom significantly increased investment returns as companies invested in by SoftBank Group achieved high valuations in their initial public offerings (IPOs). Notable examples include Coupang, a Korean e-commerce company in which Chairman Son holds a 38% stake, and DoorDash, a U.S. food delivery app, both successfully listed on the U.S. stock market. Additionally, the valuations of China’s ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, Southeast Asia’s ride-sharing service Grab, and the short video sharing app TikTok also rose substantially.

The first Vision Fund, launched in 2017, invested in a total of 92 companies and completed capital recovery from 10 of them by the end of last year. The second Vision Fund, launched last year, has invested in 26 companies so far and manages a total of $100 billion (approximately 114 trillion KRW) in funds.

With a series of IPOs planned this year for companies invested in by the Vision Fund, SoftBank is expected to continue recording record-level net profits.

Meanwhile, SBG’s revenue for the 2020 fiscal year increased by 7.4% year-on-year to 5.6281 trillion yen (approximately 58.2 trillion KRW).