SoftBank sells US$1.69b of Coupang as Son unloads assets

Tokyo

SOFTBANK Group sold about US$1.69 billion worth of its stake in Coupang, the South Korean e-commerce giant whose stock surged and then tumbled after its initial public offering (IPO) in March.

SoftBank sold 57 million shares at US$29.685 on Sept 14, the company said in a statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Japanese company is still Coupang's largest shareholder.

SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son has stepped up sales of stakes in his portfolio of public companies in recent months, funnelling the cash into more investments in technology startups. SoftBank sold roughly US$14 billion worth of listed stocks last quarter, nearly triple the amount in the previous period. The sell-off includes shares in some of Mr Son's biggest IPO hits such as DoorDash and Chinese online property platform KE Holdings.

Coupang's March debut contributed US$24.5 billion to SoftBank's profit in that quarter, marking Mr Son's best return since Alibaba Group's listing in 2014. But the shares have dropped about 16 per cent below the US$35 a share IPO price since, forcing SoftBank to book a US$4.3 billion unrealised loss in the three months ended June.

SoftBank shares rose less than 1 per cent to 6,591 yen in Tokyo on Friday. Coupang shares closed at US$29.41 in the US the previous day. BLOOMBERG