SoftBank reports $7.1 billion quarterly loss

SoftBank Group reported a net loss of 1.12 trillion yen, or about $7.1 billion, for its fiscal second quarter, as falling values of technology investments and a large writedown tied to an Ohio data-center project weighed on results. Analysts had expected an average profit of 129 billion yen.

The loss, covering the three months through September, was SoftBank’s first quarterly net loss in nearly two years. The company’s Vision Fund, which invests in technology companies, recorded a loss of 81.6 billion yen for the quarter. Declines in the share prices of chipmakers Arm Holdings and Intel, as well as South Korean e-commerce company Coupang, also reduced SoftBank’s reported performance.

SoftBank attributed a $3.7 billion writedown to nonrefundable advance payments for equipment and manufacturing capacity secured for its planned data-center campus in Ohio. The company’s results come as investors assess the risks of its expanding artificial-intelligence investments and the debt used to finance them.

SoftBank held about a 13% stake in OpenAI at the beginning of October. Its exposure to the company and other AI-related businesses has made SoftBank a focus for investors gauging the...