SoftBank amasses over $20 billion in public stock unit

SoftBank Group Corp. charged ahead with its new public stock trading arm, increasing equity positions to more than $20 billion despite an initially skeptical response from shareholders, according to a person familiar with the investments.

Bloomberg reported in August that SoftBank had been targeting more than $10 billion and that the sum could reach into the tens of billions. The Japanese conglomerate considered tempering its trading plans in early September after reports that SoftBank’s spending spree was stirring froth in tech stocks. The news erased about $9 billion in market value for SoftBank at the time.