The Japanese SoftBank Group is significantly adjusting its business version and gradually shifting its focus to investment in artificial intelligence-based facilities. According to the 2024 annual report, as of the end of March, the number of software subsidiaries fell to 965, a decrease of 23% from the previous year and a decrease of 35% from 2019, which is the first time since 2016.
This adjustment mainly comes from the sale of Fortress Investment Group holding companies. In 2017, Silver spent $3.3 billion to acquire Fortress, with the aim of attracting investment professional capabilities and supporting the startup of the Vision Fund. But the key to the strong fluctuations in the financial report of silver is not the purchase of this book, but the impact of the valuation fluctuations and exchange rate of the fund investment portfolio. The company sold 4.99 trillion yen in 2020, and the following year, the technology stock retracement was converted to a huge amount of 1.71 trillion yen.
Since 2022, Chairman and Executive Chairman Sun Zhengyi clearly stated that he will focus on artificial intelligence in the next few years. Subsequently, the silver gradually sold non-core businesses and focused its resources on AI and semiconductor industries.
Currently, No. 1 and No. 2 of Yongjing Fund have invested 335 companies, almost all of which are related to AI. Recently, the Silver Bank has increased its holdings in NVIDIA, bought Taiwanese Electric Stocks, and announced in 2025 that it would invest US$2 billion in Intel, and a code-plus semiconductor infrastructure construction. Its subsidiary Arm is also regarded as the core asset of the silver in the AI platform.
Although the number of subsidiaries has significantly decreased, the price of the silver stock doubled against the trend and set a record high. Its market value once ranked the fourth largest company in Japan, only among Fengtian Automobile, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sony. The market is generally understood, and the reduction of subsidiaries is not a regression, but rather reflects that the silver must focus on development and strategic determination to focus on AI.
SoftBank slashes subsidiaries 23%, homing in on AI