SoftBank Group shares jump 10% on $9 billion buyback announcement

SoftBank Group Corp shares jumped 10% on Tuesday, the first trading session after the Japanese conglomerate said it would spend up to 1 trillion yen ($8.8 billion) buying back almost 15% of its shares.

The company announced the buyback, long speculated by the market, after it revealed its quarterly earnings crashed to a loss amid a decline in the share prices of its portfolio companies and a regulatory crackdown in China.

The move puts SoftBank’s shares on track for the biggest daily jump in 11 months.

The buyback is SoftBank’s second largest after a record 2.5 trillion yen buyback launched during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Shares of the tech group quadrupled during that buyback, but have since fallen 40% from a peak in May.