SoftBank Tripled Share Buybacks to $1 Billion in March

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. more than tripled the size of its share buybacks to about $1 billion in March helping the company’s stock price stage a rebound and cap its best monthly rally in about a year. 

The technology giant bought 141.4 billion yen ($1.1 billion) worth of shares last month, which compares with 46.2 billion yen of shares purchased in February, according to a filing the company made to the government. The buyback combined with a 7.6% jump in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s shares helped SoftBank cap a monthly stock-price gain of 8.5%, its best such performance since February last year. 

SoftBank shares had been hammered due to a selloff in Chinese technology shares led by Alibaba as the country steps up efforts to regulate internet industries while a continued climb in U.S. interest rates bodes ill for the sector’s equities. SoftBank shares tumbled 33% last year. 

Masayoshi Son in November announced plans to buy back as many as 250 million shares, or 14.6%, for as much as 1 trillion yen over the course of the next year, in a bid to appease shareholders getting worried over the continued tumble in SoftBank’s stock price. The decision sent shares 11% higher for its best daily performance since December 2020.

The pace of share buybacks, however, hasn’t been as fast as some in the market have anticipated, with accumulated purchases since the announcement totaling 344.6 billion yen as of end March. Son has said the one-year schedule is not set in stone but a rough guideline. 

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