SoftBank Group Corp. plunged by the most since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic after the company declined to pledge a continuation of buybacks that have propped up its stock.
Shares tumbled as much as 8.7% on Thursday, the most on an intraday basis since March 2020, despite record profit in the March quarter. The company has lost more than ?6 trillion ($55 billion) in market value in the past three days. Investors are skittish about whether SoftBank will keep buying back its own stock after completing a ?2.5 trillion allotment for repurchases.
¡°We believed that SoftBank would follow up its massive buyback with another one. But we are extremely surprised that it did not,¡± Atul Goyal, senior analyst at Jefferies, wrote in a research note. ¡°Without the buyback, SoftBank stock price is likely to reflect the performance of its listed investments.¡±
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