SoftBank Group reported on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, that its net profit more than doubled in the July-September quarter, driven by sharp valuation gains in its holding in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

The Japanese technology conglomerate posted a net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.502 trillion yen, about $16.3 billion, for the quarter. That compares with 1.179 trillion yen in the same period last year, and was far above the 418.23 billion yen expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, according to Business Hub Middle East, which reported the results.

Vision Funds drive the result

The strong result was driven chiefly by gains on investments at the company's flagship Vision Funds. Gains on investments at the Vision Funds surged to 2.755 trillion yen in the September quarter, up from 567.4 billion yen a year earlier.

Reuters reported that the Vision Fund unit posted an investment gain of 3.5 trillion yen, with the group's holding in OpenAI contributing 2.16 trillion yen of that gain in the quarter. SoftBank committed to invest $40 billion in OpenAI earlier this year and carried out part of that investment through its Vision Funds during the September quarter.

SoftBank is also part of a $500 billion venture with OpenAI to build more artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States. The scale of those commitments is now the central question for investors: whether the returns on the AI bets can keep pace with the cash going into them.

Nvidia stake sold for $5.83 billion

Separately, SoftBank said it had sold all of its shares in Nvidia, about 32.1 million shares, for $5.83 billion in October. The sale was not reflected in the second-quarter earnings, and the company did not disclose a reason for selling the stake in the chipmaker at the centre of the AI boom.

SoftBank also said it will carry out a four-for-one ordinary share split, effective 1 January, aimed at making its shares more accessible to investors. Its shares hit a series of record highs in October before falling sharply, as investors weighed the pace of its AI spending against the value of its holdings.

What investors watch next

The results give investors a fresh reading on the value of SoftBank's portfolio at 30 September, including its stake of about 90 percent in chip designer Arm, whose licensing revenue rose sharply in the same quarter. Arm accounted for about 60 percent of SoftBank's adjusted holdings at the end of June, making its performance a large part of the group's valuation.

The focus now turns to what management says about funding. SoftBank completed a $30 billion follow-on investment programme in OpenAI on 1 October, taking its cumulative investment in the company to $64.6 billion for a reported ownership interest of about 13 percent. Investors will be watching for guidance on borrowing, liquidity and the timing of any further infrastructure spending, as well as on the loan-to-value ratio that measures the group's debt against its holdings.

This is SoftBank Group, the investment holding company, not SoftBank Corp, its telecoms unit, which reported its own record first-half results separately on 9 November. The group's profit is driven mainly by the changing value of its investments rather than by operating revenue, so it can swing sharply from quarter to quarter with market valuations.