Shares of SoftBank Group, the Japanese conglomerate that took chip designer Arm private in 2016, experienced a boost in Tokyo on Friday morning. The surge followed Arm's successful trading debut on Nasdaq, which raised hopes for a recovery in the IPO market.
SoftBank's shares rose as much as 5.1% early in the session and were recently up 2.4% at 6,737 yen. A positive trend was also observed for Arm, as its stock closed up 25% from its initial public offering price of $63.59 in New York.
The IPO of Arm, the largest in the U.S. since Rivian Automotive's debut last November, raised approximately $5 billion for SoftBank. The company's tech funds have a stake in numerous private enterprises. In a recent announcement, SoftBank expressed its intention to reinvigorate its investments in artificial intelligence on a large scale.
Due to concerns about policy tightening by global central banks, SoftBank reported a net loss of Y970.14 billion ($6.58 billion) for the fiscal year ended March. Additionally, a net loss of Y477.62 billion was observed for its first quarter ended June.
Despite these setbacks, SoftBank sold 10% of its Arm shares during the IPO. As a result, Arm's valuation now stands at nearly $69 billion on a fully diluted basis, significantly surpassing the roughly $32 billion that SoftBank initially acquired it for in 2016.
