SoftBank loses $7.1 billion on an Ohio data-center writedown, and GE Vernova drops as much as 10%

SoftBank Group reported a net loss of about ¥1.12 trillion ($7.1 billion) for its fiscal second quarter, its first quarterly loss in almost two years, according to Bloomberg. Analysts had expected a profit of ¥129 billion on average. AP, Reuters, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal all led Tuesday with the same $7 billion loss.

What was written off

Bloomberg reports the company took a $3.7 billion writedown on non-refundable advance payments it had made to secure power-generation equipment for its 8-gigawatt Ohio data-center project and other US sites. Valuations of AI holdings also dipped around the world in the quarter. The point for suppliers: money paid up front for gear that is no longer wanted does not come back.

Why GE Vernova moved

GE Vernova, which builds gas turbines, fell sharply Tuesday morning. Nasdaq.com showed it at $787.44 at 10:26 AM ET, down 5.05% from Monday's close of $829.34, after a session low of $747.00. That low is 9.9% below the prior close, our arithmetic. The stock has a 52-week range of $530.16 to $1,195.94 and a market value near $209 billion.

The link is a post from Elon Musk on Nov. 6 saying SoftBank was "defaulting on their turbine orders." TIKR reports SoftBank said in May that it had reserved turbines from several makers, GE Vernova among them, for a 9.2-gigawatt gas plant in Ohio (Bloomberg's figure for the project is 8 gigawatts, and we have not reconciled the two). TIKR also notes that neither SoftBank nor any turbine maker had confirmed a cancelled order as of Friday, and that even a full cancellation would be a small share of the roughly 122 gigawatts of gas equipment GE Vernova said it had under contract at the end of September. We could not confirm from the sources we read which supplier's orders were written down, so this story does not say GE Vernova lost an order.

The number behind the number

The loss is partly an accounting event: payments already made, now treated as gone. The cash had left earlier. What is new is that one of the largest AI backers has decided some of its planned power capacity will not be bought on the original schedule. For a supplier with a sold-out backlog, the market question is whether another buyer takes the slot at the same price. TIKR argues scarce turbines can likely be resold; that is an analyst view, not a fact about this order.

Who it hits

• Holders of SoftBank debt and the AI-financing chain. We covered the company's junk-bond sale earlier; a loss of this size lands on a company carrying that interest bill.
• Equipment suppliers and their subcontractors with order books tied to large data-center power plants, where a delayed or reduced order changes production schedules.
• Utilities and power developers competing for the same turbine slots, who may find equipment becomes available sooner if hyperscale buyers pull back.

What to watch

A statement from SoftBank or a turbine maker naming the equipment and the supplier would settle the question. GE Vernova's next quarterly report will show whether its backlog and pricing hold. Live prices are on our markets board.

Sources: Bloomberg; AP, Reuters, FT and WSJ headlines; TIKR.com; GE Vernova filings on SEC EDGAR; Nasdaq.com quote read at 10:26 AM ET. Prices are intraday and can reverse. This is market information, not investment advice.