In its latest third quarter earnings report, SoftBank, the Japanese multinational holding conglomerate, released information about its withdrawal of entire its stake in chipmaker Nvidia - worth $3.63 billion.
This is yet another setback for the Silicon Valley based Nvidia, which has recently witnessed its share price slash by half in the past four months as demand for its crypto-mining chips dried up. Nvidia’s share price has plummeted from a high of $292 a share in September to $153 a share Wednesday.
Last week Nvidia had cut its revenue guidance for the fiscal fourth quarter owing to declining macroeconomic conditions, particularly in China.
Nvidia is one of the latest victims in the growing list chip making companies, which have been severely impacted by economic weakness in the world's second largest economy and also due to sluggish growth in demand for smartphones.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which began investing in Nvidia in May 2017, said that the company considered selling its stake in Nvidia because it had bought shares at a lower price and has already made the expected profit on the investment. In addition to Nvidia, the Vision Fund has invested in some other companies like Uber, Didi, and Slack.
Shares of the Japanese tech giant closed slightly higher on Wednesday after the firm reported a 60% rise in quarterly profits and a $5.5 billion share buyback program. Despite the stake sell, Nvidia shares were up by 1.5% after the market opening on Wednesday.