SoftBank touts Vision Fund gains, ditches operating profit as yardstick

SoftBank Group Corp broke with tradition on Tuesday and declined to disclose operating profit in its quarterly results, saying the measure was "not useful" to gauge performance, and instead pointed to a $2.8 billion gain at its Vision Fund.

Chief Executive Masayoshi Son has long emphasised the total value of assets as his preferred yardstick. By jettisoning operating profit, however, SoftBank could further stoke investor complaints about a firm long seen as opaque and hard to value.

SoftBank, which plunged to a record operating loss last year following writedowns at the Vision Fund, trumpeted a 297 billion yen ($2.80 billion)