SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the brainchild of the company’s founder Masayoshi Son, has faced a number of difficulties including a slump in tech stocks due to rising interest rates, a tough China market and political geography.
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Japanese SoftBank Group Corp reported first-quarter profit in three quarters, boosted by the sale of some of its shares in China Alibaba even as its giant Vision Fund posted another heavy quarterly loss.
A source close to SoftBank said the Broad Vision Fund, which has made waves in the tech world with big bets on startups, will also write down its investments in the exchange. troubled cryptocurrency FTX down to zero, a source close to SoftBank said, adding that the figure is less than $100 million.
The complexity at FTX marks the latest difficulty for the Vision Fund, which has been hit by a global technology trend in recent quarters that prompted SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son to sharply scale back investments. new quarter.
Investment losses at flagship Vision Fund were 1.38 trillion yen ($9.75 billion) in the three months to September 30 as portfolio values continued to slide.
Son told a press conference that this would be the last time he spoke at a post-earnings press conference for the “near future,” adding that he had no health problems. SoftBank itself is synonymous with Son, whose bold bets on everything from Chinese tech to startups like WeWork have mapped out a path far different from any Japanese company. other.
SoftBank itself, net profit reached 3.03 trillion yen in the second quarter of July-September. In the first quarter, the group lost 3.16 trillion yen.
Days after disclosing a large loss in the first quarter, SoftBank said it would reduce its stake in Alibaba Group Holdings to about 15% from about 24% by paying forward contracts upfront and recording a profit. estimated at 4.6 trillion yen in the second quarter.
In the latest quarter, the value of some of SoftBank’s listed investments fell, including its stake in the US real estate broker. Compass and the largest technology company in Indonesia, Gowhile Korean e-commerce firm Coupang is one of the bullish codes.
