SoftBank Vision Fund posts first annual gain in 3 years, up $4.6 billion

SoftBank posted a 724.3 billion Japanese yen ($4.6 billion) gain on its Vision Fund in the fiscal year ended March, the first time the flagship tech investment arm has been in the black since 2021.

For the full fiscal year, SoftBank's Vision Fund segment posted a profit of 128.2 billion yen, swinging to profit after a 4.3 trillion yen loss the year before.

A recovery in the Vision Fund helped SoftBank Group swing to a profit in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March.

The Vision Fund was helped by the gain in value of some of SoftBank's most high-profile investments, including TikTok owner ByteDance and U.S. food delivery firm DoorDash. However, SoftBank took a hit on some of its other investments such as Chinese ride-hailing firm DiDi as well as office sharing company WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.

The gain in the Vision Fund was due in large part to the initial public offering of chip designer Arm last year.

The Japanese firm said gains associated with the IPO of Arm, which is a subsidiary of Softbank, are not reported in its "consolidated statement of profit or loss." Excluding gains associated with Vision Fund's investments in its subsidiaries, the tech investment arm posted a loss of 167.3 billion yen.

Still, there are signs a recovery is underway for SoftBank which has been hit by bad bets on some tech firms as well as volatile markets.

Here's how SoftBank did in the March quarter against LSEG estimates:

Still for the full year, SoftBank posted an overall loss of 227.6 billion yen, but that is narrower than the 970.1 billion yen loss from the fiscal year before.

SoftBank's flagship tech investment arm, the Vision Fund, had a tough time in the fiscal year that ended in March