SoftBank swings to a loss ahead of big Stargate AI bet

SoftBank Group swung to a loss in the December quarter due to a drop in the value of its Vision Fund unit's public holdings, boding ill for founder Masayoshi Son who has to raise 500 billion for the Stargate artificial intelligence project. The Tokyo-based company reported a net loss of 369.2 billion ( 2.4 billion) for the fiscal third quarter compared with a profit of 950 billion a year earlier. The Vision Fund unit logged a 309.9 billion loss, hurting the bottom line after shares of public holdings such as Coupang and Didi Global gave up some of their gains from the previous quarter. Volatility in the Vision Fund's quarterly performance consistently dogs SoftBank, which has embarked on a project with OpenAI to invest 500 billion on the infrastructure needed to support and propel AI development. Japanese billionaire Son is exploring project financing to raise money.