SoftBank Gets Boost From Vision Fund to Forge Big Bets in AI

  • Tech investor rakes in profit on hot Indian IPO market
  • Legacy-conscious founder Masayoshi Son is readying next gamble
Masayoshi SonPhotographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
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SoftBank Group Corp. swung to its biggest quarterly profit in two years, helped by a series of successful Indian listings that give founder Masayoshi Son more ammunition for his next bet.

The Tokyo-based company is stepping up investments in artificial intelligence, providing $500 million in OpenAI’s most recent fundraising round, which values the startup at a post-money valuation of $157 billion. SoftBank has the financial strength to make such bets in artificial intelligence, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said on an earnings call.