SoftBank reaps US$33 billion Coupang windfall Toggle share menu
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SoftBank reaps US$33 billion Coupang windfall
Delivery trucks for e-commerce retailer Coupang leave a distribution centre in Seoul, South Korea, Jun 21, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Josh Smith)
12 Mar 2021 02:50AM (Updated:
12 Mar 2021 03:47AM) Share this content
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LONDON: SoftBank Group Corp on Thursday (Mar 11) racked up a roughly US$33 billion gain on paper through the public market debut of South Korea s largest e-commerce company, Coupang Inc, the latest sign of a dramatic turnaround for its US$100 billion Vision Fund.
Shares of Coupang opened 81 per cent above their offer price on Thursday, after the company raised US$4.6 billion in the US stock market s biggest initial public offering this year.
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(Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp on Thursday racked up a roughly $33 billion gain on paper through the public market debut of South Korea’s largest e-commerce company, Coupang Inc, the latest sign of a dramatic turnaround for its $100 billion Vision Fund.
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Shares of Coupang opened 81% above their offer price on Thursday, after the company raised $4.6 billion in the U.S. stock market’s biggest initial public offering this year.
SoftBank paid around $3 billion for a 37% stake in the company, according to sources familiar with earlier fund-raising, giving it a roughly $33 billion headline profit if prices hold.
During the third quarter net profit ballooned more than 20 times to 1.17 trillion yen ($11.09 billion). That compared with an estimate of 171 billion yen from four analysts polled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
The earnings mark a sea change from a year earlier when high profile misses such as the flopped IPO of office sharing firm WeWork and the COVID-19 pandemic forced CEO Masayoshi Son to sell down assets to stabilise his investing empire