SoftBank Reports 16.5 Trillion KRW Loss in Q1?Q3 This Year... "Largest Quarterly Deficit Ever for a Japanese Company"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Japan's SoftBank Group announced on the 18th that its net loss for January to March this year reached 1.4381 trillion yen (approximately 16.53 trillion KRW). The poor performance of investment businesses due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) had a significant impact, resulting in the worst quarterly loss ever recorded by a Japanese company.

According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun and others, SoftBank Group disclosed this through its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2020 (based on International Financial Reporting Standards) on the same day. Nihon Keizai reported that the company's net loss exceeded the 1.3872 trillion yen loss recorded by Tokyo Electric Power Holdings during the Great East Japan Earthquake in January to March 2011.

SoftBank Group's loss for the 2019 fiscal year (April 2019 to March 2020) amounted to 961.5 billion yen. Kyodo News reported that this loss was the largest in the company's history. SoftBank, which closes its accounts in March, had recorded a profit of 1.4111 trillion yen in the 2018 fiscal year.

Revenue increased by 2% compared to the previous period to 6.185 trillion yen, while operating profit recorded a loss of 1.3646 trillion yen. SoftBank did not announce its consolidated earnings forecast for the 2020 fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021). Regarding dividends, it responded that they are "undecided."

Earlier, SoftBank announced that Jack Ma, founder and former chairman of China's Alibaba Group, would step down from his director position. SoftBank stated that Ma's decision to retire, following his resignation as Alibaba chairman in September last year, was taken into consideration and that this would have no impact on the relationship with Alibaba.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.