SoftBank Sells Uber, Lemonade Stakes as Record Profit Fuels AI Spending Spree

SoftBank sells Uber, Lemonade, Circle; record $31.7B profit but stock drops on OpenAI paper gains. Arm, robotics, and battery bets expand.

SoftBank has embarked on a sweeping portfolio reshuffle, unloading its remaining holdings in Uber, Lemonade, and Circle Internet Group while slashing its T-Mobile US position. The Japanese investment giant’s latest 13F filing, submitted Friday, reveals the moves were completed in the quarter through March 2026. The proceeds are earmarked for a single destination: artificial intelligence.

The exits are dramatic. SoftBank shed 28.5 million T-Mobile US shares down to 10 million, and added 3.13 million Class A shares of life-insurance startup Ethos Technologies. The cash freed up supports a pledge to boost its total OpenAI investment to $64.6 billion by the end of next year — a bet so large it now distorts the group’s profit picture.

That became obvious on Tuesday, when SoftBank reported a net profit of roughly $31.7 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2026. The figure marks the highest annual profit ever recorded by a Japanese company. Yet the stock fell more than 4% the following day. The reason: around ¥6.6 trillion of the gain came from unrealized appreciation of SoftBank’s 13% stake in OpenAI. Paper gains, not cash.

Revenue for the full year rose nearly 8%, reaching about ¥7,800 billion, while earnings per share surged to 873 yen — more than quadruple the prior year’s level. The January-March quarter alone delivered EPS of 320 yen. Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto tried to calm nerves by highlighting an improved loan-to-value ratio of 17% at March-end, with internal estimates now putting it at 15%, well within the self-imposed 25% cap.

To temper its dependence on OpenAI’s valuation, SoftBank is leaning heavily on chip subsidiary Arm Holdings. Now worth $221 billion, Arm is morphing from a pure licensing model into a semiconductor manufacturer; in March 2026 it unveiled its own Arm AGI CPU. Separately, the group is consolidating robotics operations under a new entity called Robo Holdings, which is expected to expand significantly in the second half of 2026 — pending the closing of its planned acquisition of ABB’s robotics division.

SoftBank is also building physical infrastructure for the AI boom. It announced a new battery business targeting AI data centers in Japan, tapping into a global AI spending market forecast to hit $2.5 trillion by the end of 2026. The move complements the group’s existing portfolio, which includes 90% ownership of Arm and the multibillion-dollar Vision Funds.

Analysts remain broadly positive. Fifteen of the 20 covering SoftBank rate the stock a buy, with an average price target of ¥6,862 — roughly 14% above current levels around ¥5,745. Morningstar is even more bullish, pegging fair value at ¥9,393. The board met today to formalize dividend plans under a new five-year strategy: a profit-linked payout of 11 yen per share, provided net income exceeds ¥700 billion by 2031. For now, the dividend yield sits at just 0.17%, underscoring management’s focus on plowing capital into growth rather than rewarding shareholders.