Billionaire
Masayoshi
Son,
chairman
and
chief
executive
officer
of
SoftBank,
which
owns
Arm,
speaks
during
a
news
conference
in
Tokyo,
July
28,
2016.
Tomohiro
Ohsumi
|
Bloomberg
|
Getty
Images
Masayoshi
Son’s
SoftBank
made
more
in
Arm’s
after-hours
trading
on
Wednesday
than
the
total
amount
the
company
lost
from
its
disastrous
bet
on
now-bankrupt
WeWork.
Arm
shares
rocketed
as
much
as
41%
late
Wednesday
after
the
chip
designer
reported
revenue
and
earnings
that
sailed
past
analysts’
estimates.
SoftBank
took
Arm
public
in
September
and
still
owns
about
930
million
shares,
or
roughly
90%
of
the
chip
designer’s
outstanding
stock.
Arm
pared
its
initial
gains,
but
SoftBank’s
stake
still
jumped
by
almost
$16
billion
—
from
close
to
$71.6
billion
to
$87.4
billion
—
after
the
earnings
report.
Softbank
acquired
Arm
in
2016
for
$32
billion,
and
its
shares
were
worth
just
over
$47
billion
at
the
time
of
the
IPO
last
year.
The
Arm
windfall
follows
a
rough
stretch
for
SoftBank’s
investment
portfolio.
The
company’s
most
high-profile
wager
was
in
WeWork,
which
spiraled
into
bankruptcy
in
November
after
the
office-sharing
company
spent
years
burning
through
billions
of
dollars
in
cash
from
SoftBank
at
sky-high
valuations.
The
Vision
Fund,
SoftBank’s
venture
arm,
posted
a
$6.2
billion
loss
in
the
second
quarter
of
2023,
tied
to
WeWork
and
other
soured
bets.
SoftBank
told
investors
in
November
that
its
cumulative
loss
on
WeWork
exceeded
$14
billion.
In
2022,
after
a $32
billion
loss
in
the
Vision
Fund, Son
suggested
that
SoftBank
would
shift
away
from
aggressive
investments
and
into
“defense”
mode,
selling
down
stakes
in
Alibaba
and
preparing
to
take
Arm
public.
A
little
more
than
a
year
later,
as
hype
over
artificial
intelligence
mounted,
Son
said
Softbank
would
switch
back
into “offense”
mode,
pursuing
investments
in
AI.
Son
can’t
yet
cash
in
on
his
company’s
gains
from
Arm.
SoftBank
is
under
a
lock-up
provision
which
prevents
it
from
selling
its
Arm
shares,
with
certain
exceptions,
for
180
days
after
the
stock
market
debut.
Arm
went
public
in
September,
meaning
that
the
lock-up
restriction
expires
in
mid-March.
WATCH:
Masa
Son
flexes
Arm
watch
now
