SoftBank shares leap 14% on DoorDash investment gain

[NEW YORK] SoftBank Group Corp shares surged 14 per cent after the investment conglomerate scored a US$11.2 billion gain in the value of its stake in DoorDash following the US food delivery app's blockbuster stock market debut.

SoftBank, which invested US$680 million in DoorDash in the last three years, saw the value of its 25 per cent stake in the company rise to US$11.9 billion on the first day of trading in New York.

SoftBank's shares climbed as much as 19 per cent in Tokyo trading and touched new two-decade highs.

DoorDash shares ended trading up 87.5 per cent following their debut on Wednesday, valuing the company at US$68.4 billion, more than four times its valuation in a private fundraising round six months ago.

SoftBank's DoorDash gains is a boon to chief executive Masayoshi Son's efforts to revive its US$100 billion Vision Fund, which recorded a string of losses in the past year on soured bets ranging from office space-sharing start-up WeWork to dog-walking startup Wag.

Last month, SoftBank said its Vision Fund was now worth about US$76.4 billion, slightly more than the US$75 billion paid for its 83 investments, due mainly to the tech-fuelled rebound in public markets from a coronavirus-induced downturn earlier this year.

SoftBank has had other investment wins of late, including a rally in the shares of ride-hailing app Uber Technologies, where it is a top shareholder, and the sale of semiconductor manufacturer Arm Ltd to Nvidia Corp for US$40 billion.

SoftBank's Vision Fund had invested in DoorDash over four fundraising rounds. It paid US$280 million for its first DoorDash stake in March 2018, before buying more shares over two rounds in the following year for about US$350 million. The fund made its last DoorDash investment worth about US$50 million in June 2020, according to regulatory filings.

REUTERS