SoftBank Says Goodbye to Alibaba, Hello to More AI Investments

TOKYO--Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group said it was ready to go on the offensive again with its eye on artificial-intelligence companies after cashing in almost its entire stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group. In the fiscal year ended March 31, SoftBank cut its investments to about $3 billion, less than a 10th of its investments the previous fiscal year. It had said it was playing defense after many of its investments in startups went sour during the recent tech downturn.