SoftBank reports its biggest ever loss, posts a $21.6 billion in quarterly loss

Softbank reports its biggest loss ever, posted a $23.4 billion in quarterly loss as the global market sell-off spread to tech stocks and shredded valuations at its Vision Fund unit. The announcement comes just two years after the Japanese giant posted a $12 billion quarterly profit in August 2020.

During the quarter that ended in June, Softbank’s Vision Fund reported a loss of 2.93 trillion Japanese yen ($21.68 billion). The loss follows a then-record 2.2 trillion yen loss in the previous quarter. SoftBank also reported an 820 billion yen foreign exchange loss due to the weaker Japanese Yen.

During a press conference after the results, SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son said, “The loss is the biggest in our corporate history and we take it very seriously.” When asked about what lessons he has learned from the experience, Son said, “There are too many to count.”

Launched in 2017, SoftBank’s Vision Fund invests in tech startups and high-growth companies.  Shares of its portfolio companies ranging from South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang to DoorDash were hit hard in the second quarter of the year.

Going forward

Son said back in May that the company would go into “defense” mode and be more “conservative” with the pace of investments after posting a record 3.5 trillion Japanese yen loss at the investment unit for the last fiscal year. Son also plans to cut staff at the Vision Fund, adding there were no “sacred areas.”

Founded in 1981 by Masayoshi Son in September, the Tokyo, Japan-based SoftBank is a multinational telecommunications and internet corporation focused on broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, internet, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses. Softbank is the sixth-largest telephone operating company with total revenue of $74.7 billion. The company has invested in a lot of startups including Uber.

Softbank Vision Fund has stakes in the following companies: Arm Holdings, Fortress Investment Group, Boston Dynamics, Sprint (85%), Alibaba (29.5%), Yahoo Japan (48.17%), Brightstar (87.1%), Uber (15%), Didi Chuxing (ca.20%), Ola (ca.30%), Renren (42.9%), InMobi (45%), Hike (25.8%), Snapdeal (ca.30%), Fanatics (ca.22%), Improbable Worlds (ca.50%), Paytm (ca.20%), OYO (42%), Ping An Insurance (7.41%)[6], Slack Technologies (ca.5%), WeWork (ca.80%), ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance (5%), Compass (ca.22%), AUTO1 Group (ca.20%), Wag (45%), Katerra (ca.28%), Cruise Automation (ca.19.6%), ParkJockey[7], Tokopedia (Indonesia), and many more.