SoftBank gets $8.2 billion boost from Intel as OpenAI takes a backseat

CANADA - 2025/08/07: In this photo illustration, the SoftBank Group (Soft Bank) logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesSoftBank on Thursday reported profit for its fiscal first quarter that beat market expectations, driven by a huge gain on its stake in Intel, while a rise in ByteDance's value helped its Vision Fund division.The Japanese giant said net profit for the June quarter totaled 347.3 billion Japanese yen ($2.2 billion). That beat the 120.23 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG estimates. However, that was a nearly 18% year-on-year decline.SoftBank saw a 1.3 trillion yen gain on the shares it owns of U.S. chipmaker Intel. SoftBank had announced a roughly $2 billion investment in Intel last year. This helped its investment division, which is separate from the Vision Fund, book segment profit of 1.05 trillion yen. Intel shares have surged nearly 400% over the last 12 months. The Vision Funds, which house investments spanning OpenAI to TikTok-owner ByteDance, saw a gain of $1.7 billion in value in the first quarter. That was primarily driven...