SoftBank has spent US$2.9b buying back its own shares since March

[TOKYO] SoftBank Group has spent about US$2.9 billion in the past three months buying back its own shares, adding market support as the Japanese company struggled with falling global tech valuations.

The company has bought 311.7 billion yen (S$4.04 billion) of its own stock since March 13, about 62 per cent of the 500 billion yen budget for re-purchases slated to run through next March.

It had acquired 71,536,700 shares of its own stock as of May 31, SoftBank said in a statement on Friday.

The Tokyo-based company led by founder Masayoshi Son last month booked a record 1.36 trillion yen operating loss for the year ended March 31.

SoftBank had been among the most aggressive investors in startups in recent years, but is now marking down the value of stakes in companies such as WeWork, Oyo Hotels and Uber Technologies. The company's Vision Fund business lost 1.9 trillion yen in the period.

The buyback announced in March initially failed to lift SoftBank's stock amid concerns the conglomerate's portfolio of startups was particularly vulnerable to the economic shocks of the pandemic.

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When the shares plunged more than 30 per cent in the week that followed, Mr Son took the unprecedented step of unveiling a second re-purchase of as much as 2 trillion yen, without a timeframe.

The stock has gained almost 90 per cent since SoftBank said it plans to sell assets to raise as much as 4.5 trillion yen over the coming year to buy shares and slash debt. It closed 2.2 per cent lower on Friday.

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