SoftBank posts Q3 profit gain as Vision Fund rallies

TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp on Monday recorded an 844 billion yen ($8 billion) profit at its Vision Fund unit in the three months to Dec. 31 compared with a loss a year ago as it gained from investments in Uber Technologies and other companies.

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.

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.

($1 = 105.5000 yen)