The daily business briefing: February 7, 2019

SoftBank announces a huge share buyback, Chipotle's stock surges after a strong earnings report, and more

Chipotle in New York
(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. SoftBank's stock skyrockets after it announces a big share buyback

SoftBank shares soared by nearly 18 percent on Thursday after the Japanese conglomerate's CEO, Masayoshi Son, announced a stock buyback after a strong quarterly earnings report. SoftBank Group, which reported a 50 percent surge in net income for the first three quarters of its fiscal year, said it would repurchase 112 million shares worth $5.46 billion over 11 months, or about 10 percent of its total outstanding shares. One investor called the move "enormous." "It's definitely going to ... propel the stock, at least in the coming months," Andrew Jackson, head of Japanese equities at SooChow CSSD Capital Markets (Asia), told CNBC's Squawk Box.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.