Beijing’s IT crackdown cost SoftBank Group Corp. more than $50 billion, but its CEO said he still had money for share buybacks and was relieved to be less reliant on China.
“Our China risk isn’t as significant. “It’s within our control,” Masayoshi Son remarked on Monday, as SoftBank revealed that its net assets had dropped by $54 billion in just three months, to the equivalent of $184 billion.
The quarterly profits announcement from the Japanese technology investor was its first direct response to the turbulence that has shaken China’s technology industry this year. One of the greatest targets for the Communist government, as it tightens its hold on internet companies, is e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., in which SoftBank owns about a quarter of the stock.
