SOFTBANK Group is a business pioneer with its holdings stretching globally. Recently the conglomerate rose to its highest stock value in 20 years. The increased stock value has boosted the value of its holdings like Uber Technologies and has also brightened the prospects for portfolio companies going public.
Uber has recently recovered from huge losses after its initial public offering last year. But now the company’s shares have gained more than 70 percent this year. In Uber technologies, Softbank has a stake of 13 percent, which is now worth about US$11 billion. The company is also a major shareholder in US delivery giant DoorDash, which also went public this month. According to sources, the stock value of SoftBank gained 2.3 percent to 7,250 yen on Friday. It is the highest level of gains since March of 2000.
Reports indicate that Citigroup raised its target price on SoftBank to 11,000 yen from 10,200 yen. The Nomura Holdings raised its target to 9,100 yen from 8,190 yen on SoftBank’s stocks. “We see plenty of room for the shares to rise against a backdrop of aggressive share buybacks and efforts to improve financial health.”
The impact of Covid-19 and the sudden issue of lockdowns and restrictions made SoftBank suffer huge losses in the last fiscal year. However, SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son responded by unveiling plans to sell 4.5 trillion yen (S$57.9 billion) in assets and buy back a record 2.5 trillion yen of his own stock. Since then, the company has been making improvements, and the increase in its stock value is proof of the recovery that the Japanese-based industry is making.
