SoftBank set to become Japan’s most valuable company

[TOKYO] SoftBank Group is set to overtake Toyota Motor as Japan’s most valuable company on Monday (Jun 1), marking a milestone for the global artificial intelligence boom and a dramatic reshuffling of the country’s corporate hierarchy. 

Shares of the Masayoshi Son-led technology group climbed as much as 14 per cent in Tokyo trading Monday, as AI-related companies climbed across the region.

SoftBank stock has been gaining since news broke that two high-profile portfolio companies – OpenAI and SB Energy – were preparing for potential US listings. Toyota meanwhile dropped as much as almost 5 per cent.

The surge has propelled SoftBank shares up more than 80 per cent this year, pushing the company’s market value above 46 trillion yen (S$368.4 billion), higher than Toyota’s around 45.8 trillion yen. Toyota shares, by contrast, have fallen more than 10 per cent this year. 

The changing of the guard underscores how rapidly investor tastes have shifted towards companies that are benefiting from the AI buildout.

It also reflects how the fortunes of two Japanese corporate titans have diverged, as macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical tensions weigh on the auto sector while AI euphoria takes hold.

SEE ALSO

SoftBank taps retail investors with US$1.6 billion yen bond deal

Asean Intelligence

Get insights into businesses across South-east Asia

Get the free report

If the gains hold through the market close, SoftBank will surpass Toyota in market value for the first time in more than two decades, a feat that it only briefly achieved back at the peak of Japan’s internet bubble in 2000. That data is based on its traded stock and treasury shares.

Excluding treasury shares, SoftBank’s market cap already surpassed Toyota’s last month. Unlike in the US, it’s customary in Japan for market capitalisation to include treasury shares, although analysts often exclude them for global comparisons. BLOOMBERG