SoftBank sells US$14bil in listed stocks

SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son, (pic) known for his reluctance to cash in on investments, is signalling a new appetite for exits to finance the accelerating pace of deal-making at his Vision Fund investment arm.

TOKYO: SoftBank Group Corp sold roughly US$14bil (RM59.34bil) worth of listed stocks last quarter, nearly triple the amount in the previous period, as the company increases pace of investment in technology startups.

The company probably raised over US$6bil (RM25.43bil) liquidating its holdings in Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Salesforce.com Inc and Netflix Inc in the three months ended June 30, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data disclosed by SoftBank in quarterly reports with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.