SoftBank stock price fell by more than 8% in Monday trading in Tokyo – the seventh consecutive day of decline – as the market digested falling valuations at key Chinese tech stocks in its portfolio and regulatory opposition to the sale of Arm.
SoftBank Group shares were trading at 5,103 yen at the close of trading, down by half from March highs and at the lowest level in 15 months.
“What you’ve seen is almost a complete reversal in sentiment,” analyst Kirk Boodry at Redex Research said. “All of the underlying value is being squeezed.”
Stocks of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba, the group’s most valuable investment, fell 8% in New York on Friday. That came after ride-hailer Didi, one of SoftBank Vision Fund’s top investments, said it would delist in the US following pressure from Chinese regulators.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son lamented the group’s conglomerate discount at earnings early last month, when he said the group had been hit by a regulatory ‘blizzard’ in China. But he suggested an upside included the planned sale of chip designer Arm to Nvidia.
However, the US Federal Trade Commission said last Thursday it will sue to block the deal, in the latest case of SoftBank struggling to get deals through regulatory scrutiny.
The slide in SoftBank stock comes even as the group buys back its shares in a 1 trillion yen ($8.85 billion) programme launched last month.
SoftBank has signalled the pace of stock repurchases could be slower than during a previous record 2.5 trillion buyback.
• Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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