SoftBank reports a return to investment gains at its Vision Fund and announces a potential $3.4 billion share buyback.

• In the first quarter of the fiscal year, SoftBank Group's Vision Fund tech investment arm recorded a 1.9 billion yen ($12.9 million) investment gain, resulting in a return to profitability.
• The Japanese giant declared it would purchase up to 6.8% of outstanding shares, worth up to 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion).

The company's Vision Fund tech investment arm recorded a 1.9 billion yen ($12.9 million) investment gain in the fiscal first quarter ended in June, resulting in a return to profitability.

The Japanese giant declared it would purchase up to 6.8% of outstanding shares in the company, worth up to 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion).

In the March quarter, SoftBank's flagship tech investment arm posted a loss of 57.53 billion yen, while the Vision Fund recorded a gain of 159.77 billion yen in the same quarter last year.

The Vision Fund of SoftBank recorded its first full-year profit since 2021 due to a surge in technology stocks and some of its significant investments.

The success of the initial public offering of chip designer Arm last year, which SoftBank owns around 90% of, has also contributed significantly to the recent success of The Vision Fund.

SoftBank is facing volatile public markets again, as its shares plummeted nearly 19% on Monday in tandem with a broader decline in Japanese stocks triggered by the Bank of Japan's interest rate hike last week.

Despite a rebound in Japan's main indexes on Tuesday, global markets remain volatile due to investor concerns about the world economy and high valuations, particularly in technology stocks.

Despite its own poor investment decisions in recent years, SoftBank is attempting to convince investors of its significance in the burgeoning artificial intelligence market by showcasing its investments in companies such as Arm and Wayve.

Masayoshi Son, the high-profile founder of SoftBank, who has been absent from the public eye for some time, returned this year to reveal his prediction that AI will be 10,000 times smarter than humans in just 10 years.