What's going on?

SoftBank�s long game seems to have gone exactly as planned: the Japanese tech conglomerate reported a quarterly profit for the first time in almost a year on Tuesday.

What does this mean?

SoftBank has reported losses in each of its last three quarterly updates, partly because of a handful of big tech investments and � in the case of coworking ne�er-do-well WeWork � big tech bailouts. But last quarter, SoftBank�s Vision Fund � the venture capital arm responsible for those investments � came good. With big tech stocks leading the stock market climb, its stakes in the likes of Uber (14%) and Slack (4%) were worth a lot more. And while the valuations of the private companies Vision Fund invests in are much more secretive, they might�ve got a bump from the public companies� higher valuations too. Add the sale of T-Mobile US to those swings in value, and SoftBank’s profit got a healthy boost.

Why should I care?

For markets: Earnings shmearnings.

The biggest recent driver of SoftBank�s earnings has been the changing valuations of the companies it�s invested in, rather than its own operations. That�s meant investors aren�t as focused on whether it�s making money as they would be for most other firms. Instead, they�re interested in how much cash SoftBank actually has and how it plans to use it. And they seem pleased: the company�s share price doubled from its low point back in March, after it promised to raise $41 billion by selling a few of its assets � maybe even chipmaker Arm � and return some of the money to shareholders.

Zooming in: Tough gig.

SoftBank could still have hard times ahead: a Californian court just ruled that Uber drivers have to be treated as employees rather than contractors, which brings with it additional costs like vacation pay. Uber � whose stock fell 4% on Tuesday � is bound to appeal, but if it loses and its stock falls further, SoftBank�s earnings could take another knock this quarter�