SoftBank shares slide 5% after news on tech stock options big bet

SoftBank Group Corp shares fell 5% in early trading on Monday as the conglomerate's big bets on equity derivatives tied to listed technology companies made investors uncomfortable

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> shares fell 5% in early trading on Monday as the conglomerate's big bets on equity derivatives tied to listed technology companies made investors uncomfortable.

The Japanese financial powerhouse has spent billions of dollars buying shares in technology companies such as Amazon as it parks cash generated by a massive asset sale programme.

The group has also made significant options purchases in tech companies, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, in an aggressive bet by Chief Executive Masayoshi Son on rising tech stocks.

Options of $4 billion generated an exposure of about $50 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The group has made $4 billion in trading gains from those bets, the Financial Times reported.

 

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Tom Hogue and Muralikumar Anantharaman)