SoftBank shares tumble after $7 bln quarterly loss

SoftBank Group (TYO:9984) shares fell sharply on Wednesday after the Japanese technology investor reported an unexpected quarterly loss, with heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and rising financing costs adding to concerns about its investment strategy.

Tokyo-listed shares dropped as much as 10.5% to 3,465.0 yen, and last traded 6.1% lower at 3,636.0 yen by 01:08 GMT, reversing some of Tuesday's gains ahead of the earnings announcement.

SoftBank reported a net loss of 1.12 trillion yen ($7.1 billion) for the July-September quarter, compared with a profit of 2.5 trillion yen a year earlier. The loss was significantly larger than analysts' expectations.

The company recorded a $3.7 billion loss from advance payments for equipment for U.S. data centre projects after plans were revised. Financing costs more than doubled to 462 billion yen during the quarter.

SoftBank has invested $64.6 billion for a 13% stake in OpenAI, making its fortunes increasingly dependent on the artificial intelligence sector.

Investor concerns have intensified amid a broader sell-off in AI-related stocks, questions over the profitability of data centre investments and rising borrowing costs.