Company briefs: Softbank

SoftBank Group said on Wednesday it would book a gain of US$34.1 billion (S$46.7 billion) by cutting its stake in Alibaba Group Holding, as the investment behemoth looks to shore up its cash reserve to weather the market downturn. The Japanese firm will reduce its stake in Alibaba to 14.6 per cent from 23.7 per cent by settling prepaid forward contracts.

SoftBank booked a US$50 billion loss at its Vision Fund investment arm in the first half of the year as its tech bets soured, with chief executive Masayoshi Son on Monday pledging to further reduce investment activity and cut costs.

REUTERS

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Binance

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is seeing a surge in clients due to rising inflation and a historically strong dollar that has weakened emerging market currencies, an executive told Reuters on Wednesday, without disclosing numbers. "We are seeing that more and more people are seeking cryptocurrency, like bitcoin, as a way to protect themselves from inflation," said Mr Maximiliano Hinz, who heads Binance in Latin America, in an interview in Lima.

He cited Argentina, where annual inflation is at 90 per cent. It has grown into one of the company's top markets, he said,along with Brazil and Mexico.

REUTERS

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Siemens

Siemens posted better-than-expected revenues for its third quarter yesterday as a writedown at Siemens Energy pushed the engineering and technology group into the red for the first time in nearly 12 years. The maker of industrial software and trains posted revenues rising 11 per cent to €17.87 billion (S$25.2 billion) - beating analyst forecasts for €17.47 billion euros in a company-gathered consensus.

But Siemens posted a shareholders' net loss of €1.66 billion after taking a €2.8 billion non-cash charge for writing down the value of its stake in Siemens Energy.

REUTERS