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SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son is pictured here in 2019 during an earnings presentation.

Tomohiro Ohsumi | Getty Images

SoftBank posted an investment gain on its Vision Fund in the fiscal second quarter but booked another quarterly loss.

Here’s how SoftBank did in the September quarter against LSEG estimates:

  • Net sales: 1.67 trillion Japanese yen ($11 billion) versus 1.6 trillion yen expected
  • Net loss: 931.1 billion yen ($6.2 billion) versus an expected loss of 114.1 billion yen

For the first half of SoftBank’s fiscal year, it posted a 1.41 trillion loss ($9.3 billion). This compares to a 3 trillion yen profit in the same period last year. SoftBank said a weaker yen hit the company since it has a lot of U.S.-dollar denominated liabilities.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund posted an investment gain of 21.3 billion yen, its second straight quarter of gains. The company said this was due to a gain arising from the sale of shares in chip designer Arm to a subsidiary of SoftBank.

This offset a decline in the value of companies SoftBank is invested in, such as Chinese artificial intelligence firm SenseTime.

“The environment is still tough … but we believe we have hit a bottom and are making good moves towards positive figures,” SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said on Thursday during an earnings presentation.

WeWork bankcruptcy hit

However, the overall SoftBank Vision Fund segment posted a pre-tax loss of 258.86 billion yen.

SoftBank recorded a loss of 234.4 billion yen for the half-year period related to the investment and financial support provided to WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this week. SoftBank was one of the biggest backers of the co-working space firm, which tried and failed to go public five years ago.

Critics of SoftBank’s investment strategy point toward WeWork as an example of a lack of discipline, at times, from the Vision Fund. SoftBank’s high-profile founder Masayoshi Son once said WeWork is at the forefront of a “revolution” in the way people work.

Goto addressed the WeWork bankruptcy and said SoftBank should learn lessons from it.

“First of all, I am very story to hear that. As a company we need to accept this reality and also need to learn the lesson from this for our future investment activity,” Goto said.

SoftBank’s flagship tech investment arm had a rough time in the fiscal year that ended in March this year, posting a record loss of around $32 billion. A slump in tech stock prices and the souring of some of SoftBank’s bets in China were to blame.

In the June quarter, the Vision Fund posted its first investment gain in five consecutive quarters, signalling early signs of growth again. This has coincided with recoveries in the prices of technology stocks.

Last year, Son noted the firm would go into “defense” mode, slowing the pace of its investment and being more cautious. In June, Son flagged a shift into “offense” mode, touting his excitement around the potential of artificial intelligence technology.

“We are investing in AI and that’s the main strategy for our company,” Goto said.

Son, who used to lead SoftBank’s earnings presentations with colorful presentations, has not been present for several quarters. But Son has been “devoting himself and involved in the discussion, how and what is going to be the changes in people’s lives from the AI revolution,” Goto said.

The CFO added that SoftBank wants to be a front runner of the AI revolution.

Chip designer Arm went public in the U.S during SoftBank’s fiscal second quarter. The company acquired Arm in 2016 for around $32 billion at the time. The initial public offering of Arm valued the company at over $50 billion.

Arm on Wednesday reported its first set of results since its IPO, posting an annual rise in revenue for the September quarter. However, the semiconductor firm gave guidance for the December quarter that disappointed investors, sending its shares lower in after-hours trade in the U.S.

Correction: The headline of this article has been updated to reflect a $6.2 billion quarterly loss.

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Workday stock slips on light quarterly margin guidance

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Workday stock slips on light quarterly margin guidance

Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach, right, walks to the morning session during the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 11, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Workday shares slid more than 5% in extended trading Tuesday after the finance and human resources software maker issued quarterly margin guidance that came in below Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: $2.32 adjusted vs. $2.18 expected
  • Revenue: $2.43 billion vs. $2.42 billion expected

The company forecast a fourth-quarter adjusted operating margin of at least 28.5% and $2.355 billion in subscription revenue, according to a statement. The StreetAccount consensus was a 28.7% margin and $2.35 billion in subscription revenue.

Workday’s revenue grew about 13% year over year in the quarter, which ended on Oct. 31. Net income of $252 million, or 94 cents per share, was up from $193 million, or 72 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Subscription revenue in the third quarter totaled $2.24 billion, with an adjusted operating margin of 28.5%. Analysts polled by StreetAccount had anticipated $2.24 billion in subscription revenue and a 28.1% margin.

During the fiscal third quarter, Workday announced artificial intelligence agents for analyzing employee performance testing financial health, and the company revealed plans to buy AI and learning software startup Sana for $1.1 billion. Also, activist investor Elliott Management said it had built a Workday stake worth over $2 billion.

Workday has seen its stock decline this year as pundits discuss the risk of generative AI tools threatening the growth prospects for cloud software incumbents. Company shares have fallen 9% so far in 2025, while the Nasdaq Composite index has gained 19%.

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A third high-profile tech leader is leaving GM as part of a software-product restructuring

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A third high-profile tech leader is leaving GM as part of a software-product restructuring

Mary Barra, Chair and CEO of General Motors (right to left), Mark Reuss, President, Sterling Anderson, Chief Product Officer, and Dave Richardson, Senior Vice President Software and Services Engineering at “GM Forward” on Wednesday, October 22, 2025 in New York.

GM

DETROIT – A third high-profile technology executive is leaving General Motors amid a restructuring of the automaker’s software and product businesses, CNBC has learned.

Baris Cetinok, GM senior vice president of software and services product management, will depart the company effective Dec. 12, the automaker confirmed Tuesday after an internal announcement to employees.

Cetinok is the third tech-turned-auto executive to leave GM in roughly a month as the company combines its vehicle software engineering and global product units under one organization, led by new Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson.

“Baris has built a strong software product management team at GM. We’re grateful for his contributions and wish him continued success. With hardware and software engineering unified under Global Product, we’re integrating product management with engineering to accelerate the delivery of exceptional in-vehicle experiences,” GM said in an emailed statement to CNBC.

Cetinok, who joined GM in September 2023 after stints with companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, could not immediately be reached for comment. The announcement of his departure comes a month after he described his position as “a product person’s dream” in an interview with CNBC.

GM’s senior vice president of software and services engineering, Dave Richardson, and its head of GM artificial intelligence, Barak Turovsky, have also left the company since October. Richardson was with GM for more than two years, while Turovsky was hired in March.

GM Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson during the automaker’s “GM Forward” event on Oct. 22, 2025 in New York City.

Michael Wayland / CNBC

Anderson left the self-driving company he cofounded, Aurora Innovation, to join GM. He told CNBC last month that in order for the automaker to succeed, software and product must be thought of as one and the same.

“That’s the point of the role, I think, is it brings together all of these pieces into a unified approach to how we do product going forward,” Anderson said during an Oct. 22 interview at a GM technology event in New York.

Anderson, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant who later led Tesla’s AutoPilot program, said his goal is to accelerate the pace of GM’s innovations.

When Anderson’s appointment with GM was announced in May, Cetinok said in a LinkedIn post he was “delighted to welcome” the executive to the company. GM CEO Mary Barra and GM President Mark Reuss also hailed Anderson as being equipped to “evolve” and “reinvent” the automaker’s operations.

The global automotive industry has battled for years to better integrate technology into vehicles – from their production to consumer-facing software and remote, or “over-the-air,” updates like Tesla pioneered.

GM has taken an aggressive approach to combat such challenges by hiring leaders from Tesla and technology companies such as Apple and Google. However, many times, such executives have had short tenures with the company.

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HP Inc shares fall on layoffs, weak guidance due to U.S. trade regulations

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HP Inc shares fall on layoffs, weak guidance due to U.S. trade regulations

Enrique Lores, President and Chief Executive Officer of HP Inc. speaks at COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan June 3, 2024.

Ann Wang | Reuters

PC and printer maker HP Inc. said Tuesday it’ll lower its headcount by 4,000 to 6,000 people, representing a cut of up to 10%. HP also issued a lower-than-expected earnings projection for the new fiscal year.

Shares of the company fell 6% in extended trading.

Here’s how HP did versus LSEG consensus estimates:

  • EPS: 93 cents adjusted vs. 92 cents expected
  • Revenue: $14.64 billion vs. $14.48 billion expected

HP’s revenue increased 4% year over year in the quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, according to a statement. Net income of $795 million, or 84 cents per share, was up from $763 million, or 80 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

For the first quarter of HP’s fiscal 2026, the company called for 73 cents to 81 cents in adjusted net earnings per share, while the LSEG consensus was 79 cents. For all of fiscal 2026, HP sees $2.90 to $3.20 in adjusted per share, below the LSEG consensus of $3.33.

“HP’s outlook reflects the added cost driven by the current U.S. trade-related regulations in place, and associated mitigations,” the company said in the statement.

The company’s personal systems unit that includes desktop and laptop computers contributed $10.35 billion in revenue, up 8% and above StreetAccount’s $10.15 billion consensus.

HP said it expects to complete the headcount reduction by the end of fiscal 2028. The company said the restructuring will result in savings of at least $1 billion in annualized gross run rate by the end of fiscal 2028. HP said it expects to incur about $650 million in charges, of which $250 million will happen in fiscal 2026.

“As we look ahead, we see a significant opportunity to embed AI into HP to accelerate product innovation, improve customer satisfaction and boost productivity,” HP CEO Enrique Lores said on a conference call with analysts.

Corporate executives across industries are hoping to draw on generative artificial intelligence products to speed up software developers and automate customer service. Cloud providers are buying large supplies of memory to meet computing demand from companies that build AI models, such as Anthropic and OpenAI, leading to a rise in the cost per gigabyte of RAM this year.

HP, whose headcount stood at 58,000 as of December, announced a similarly sized round of layoffs in 2022. Several other technology companies have announced layoffs in recent months as U.S. consumers face higher prices and interest rates.

“Memory costs are currently 15 to 18% of the cost of a typical PC, and while an increase was expected, its rate has accelerated in the last few weeks,” Lores said.

The company does expect to benefit after Microsoft stopped supporting its Windows 10 operating system in October, which will lead people to buy new machines, Lores said. Around 60% of HP’s installed base has moved to Windows 11, he said.

HP’s printing business did $4.3 billion in revenue, down 4%. The pricing environment is competitive, and customers are putting off purchases of new models, said Karen Parkhill, the company’s finance chief.

As of Tuesday’s close, HP shares were down 25% for the year, while the S&P 500 index has gained 15% in the same period.

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