Japan's SoftBank reduces its investment losses with gains in Alibaba and other holdings

Japanese technology giant SoftBank Group has reported a smaller loss for the April-June quarter compared to a year earlier. Tokyo-based SoftBank said Wednesday that its losses in the last quarter totaled 174 billion yen, or $1.2 billion. It racked up nearly 478 billion yen in red ink in the same period of last year. Quarterly sales rose 9% at SoftBank, which has investments in various technology companies including American office-space-sharing WeWork; Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce company, and telecommunications operator T-Mobile. SoftBank said its investments had improved considerably in the past year. Sales increased in Arm, an artificial intelligence and processor company. Investment gains were recorded for Alibaba and T-Mobile holdings.