By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (T:9984) said on Friday it would book a 277 billion yen ($2.56 billion) gain in the second quarter after portfolio company Alibaba Group Holding (N:BABA) recorded a $9.7 billion gain related to its stake in Ant Financial.
SoftBank, which will report earnings for the July-September quarter on Nov. 6, has a 26% stake in Alibaba and said it will report the gain under income on equity method investments.
E-commerce giant Alibaba earlier on Friday reported a 260% jump in net income attributable to ordinary shareholders due to the one-time gain.
The boost from SoftBank's stake in Alibaba comes as investors are bracing for big writedowns on some of the Japanese conglomerate's biggest tech bets when it reports next week.