SoftBank Can’t Shake the Ghosts of Tech Booms Past

There seems to be no shortage of bad news for SoftBank this week. A new artificial-intelligence-driven tech boom could eventually be a tailwind for earnings. But the company’s latest results were a reminder of how much work the firm still has to do to convince investors that it will be a canny steward of their capital—and reliably hit enough home runs to offset its many strikeouts.

The Japanese technology investor on Thursday reported a surprising loss: equivalent to $6.2 billion for the September quarter. Analysts on S&P Global Market Intelligence had expected, on average, a gain of around $1.2 billion.