Business & Economy

Softbank CEO says investments have recovered to pre-epidemic levels

Tokyo, Jun 25 (efe-epa).- The president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, assured today that the investments of the group, which have been causing concern, have recovered and already exceed their values ??prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The value of the shares we own has recovered to 30 trillion yen (about 250,000 million euros or 280,000 million dollars),” as of June 24, they said Thursday at the annual meeting of shareholders of the company broadcast online.

This value is two trillion yen (16,600 million euros or 18,660 million dollars) higher than the end of March, the end of the Japanese fiscal year of 2019, in which the conglomerate registered the worst losses in its history, more than 8,900 million euros or $ 8.9 billion mainly due to bad investments.

According to data shown during the presentation, the value of Softbank’s stake in the US telephone operator T-Mobile and in the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba have increased.

The Japanese company recently announced the sale of some of its shares in both companies as part of a strategic plan to raise 4.5 trillion yen (€ 37.32 billion or $ 41.98 billion) with which to repurchase its own shares and reduce its debt.

Son assured that the conglomerate has achieved 80% progress in said program, within the framework of which it has also sold part of its participation in the group’s telephony branch.

“During the recovery process, Softbank’s stock price was cut in half. I think the market shot down,” said Son, who believes he “overreacted.”

The main reason for Softbank’s historic losses was due to the losses of its Vision Fund fund investments in technology firms and other interests in businesses such as the American workspace company WeWork.

President Son downplayed the losses, arguing that Softbank is “a strategic investment company.”

The technology group accumulated the highest volume of operations on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in the mid-session break, when its shares fell by 0.68 percent. EFE-EPA

mra/lds

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