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SoftBank Wraps Up $4.7 Billion Share Buyback in Three Months

SoftBank completed its $4.7 billion buyback program in just three months.

SoftBank Wraps Up $4.7 Billion Share Buyback in Three Months
Signage for SoftBank Corp. illuminated at a store in Tokyo, Japan. (Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. has completed its $4.7 billion buyback program in just three months as the Japanese company spends to bolster its share price against losses in the investment business.

The company has bought 500 billion yen ($4.7 billion) of its own stock since March, using the entire budget for re-purchases slated to run through next March. It had acquired 107,679,300 shares of its own stock as of June 15, SoftBank said in a statement on Monday.

The Tokyo-based company led by founder Masayoshi Son last month booked a record 1.36 trillion yen operating loss for the year ended March 31. SoftBank had been among the most aggressive investors in startups in recent years but is now marking down the value of stakes in companies such as WeWork, Oyo Hotels and Uber Technologies Inc. Son has already lined up a second re-purchase of as much as 2 trillion yen, without a timeframe.

The stock has gained more than 80% since SoftBank said it plans to sell assets to raise as much as 4.5 trillion yen over the coming year to buy shares and slash debt. It closed 3.3% lower on Monday.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.