SoftBank reports a ~$17.23B loss for Vision Fund in Q1 2022, as the value of its tech portfolio fell, including SenseTime and Uber, after a record Q4 2021 loss
ReutersSam Nussey
Context & Ripple Effects
SoftBank entered the period after a $26.2B full-year Vision Fund loss tied to falling stocks and inflation, extending a record of portfolio write-downs that had previously included Uber. The Q1 result makes clear that the pressure had carried into the next reporting period.
The loss is driven by marks on named public holdings, rather than an isolated company-specific setback. Related coverage later recorded another Vision Fund loss as public investments including SenseTime and DoorDash declined, reinforcing the importance of market valuations to the fund's reported results.
First-order effects
SoftBank absorbs a roughly $17.23B Q1 Vision Fund loss as the reported values of SenseTime, Uber, and other technology holdings fall.
Vision Fund performance is immediately weaker for its stakeholders because losses in individual portfolio positions are reflected at the fund level.
The subsequent Q2 loss, though smaller, indicates that the pressure on public holdings continued beyond the Q1 report rather than ending with a single valuation reset.
Third-order effects
If recurring portfolio markdowns persist, the Vision Fund model becomes defined less by the number of companies it backs and more by its exposure to broad technology-market repricing.
Large multi-company investment vehicles face a more visibly cyclical earnings profile when public holdings drive reported gains and losses.
The trend: SoftBank's Vision Fund is an example of how broad tech-market repricing can rapidly flow through a large, concentrated investment portfolio's reported results.
$17B loss for the Vision Fund in a single quarter. Gulf sovereigns have lost more capital in 3 months than the Gulf VC industry has raised since its inception by a magnitude of more than 10X. https://twitter.com/...
This is slowdown From deploying $20.6 billion in April-June 2021 to just $600 million during April-June 2022 That's a 97% fall in approved investment at Softbank Vision Fund Source: Softbank IR ppt https://twitter.com/...
Dude, you can't cut enough jobs to offset a record $26.2 billion quarterly loss >> SoftBank plans Vision Fund job cuts after record net loss https://www.reuters.com/...
I've been saying for years that tech and business reporters should be probing SoftBank. It's the sketchiest company in the world right now. And it's really weird. https://twitter.com/...
1/5 At least Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son is more self-aware than many of his peers: “When we were turning out big profits, I became somewhat delirious, and looking back at myself now, I am quite embarrassed and remorseful.” https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
“When we were turning out big profits, I became somewhat delirious, and looking back at myself now, I am quite embarrassed and remorseful” https://www.wsj.com/...
Softbank's Masayoshi Son dropped a ton of news in Tokyo today — a record loss, more buybacks and plans to sell Fortress. He was unusually somber and pledged sweeping cost cuts throughout his company. “Everything” is under consideration. @leeminjeong83 🧵 https://www.bloomberg.com/…
Softbank raised about $17 billion by selling forward contracts on Alibaba shares it owns. That means SoftBank isn't selling the Chinese company's stock right now, but it's likely in the future.
Son also disclosed that he's in talks to sell Fortress, the asset manager Softbank acquired in 2017 for $3.3 billion. Son wanted to use Fortress to help manage investments, but US regulators blocked him from taking a day to day role. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
“The loss is the biggest in our corporate history and we take it very seriously,” Son said the presser. “We have to resort to big cost-cutting efforts at Vision Fund. The cost cutting efforts will have to include a reduction in head count - something I've made up my mind to do.”
SoftBank's Vision Fund investment unit, through which the Japanese conglomerate invests in companies, posted a net loss of as much as $21 billion hitting the company's profits for the quarter ended June. The Vision Fund investment unit was expected to report a loss of $10 Bn
Results just in for the June quarter - SoftBank vision fund posted a 2.9 trillion yen loss ($21.6 billion). That's one of the highest quarterly losses at the unit in history - SoftBank group swung to a 3.1 trillion net loss. Shares higher. Bad news already priced in https://twitt…
Not sure I can get my head around a loss of **$23.4 billion** SoftBank Group reports a record 3.16 trillion yen ($23.4 billion) net loss as a selloff in global tech stocks continued to hammer its Vision Fund's portfolio of investments https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @technology
Not surprising as Vision Fund reported second-largest quarterly loss of $21.68 billion for June quarter Son said that the headcount at the Vision Fund may need to be “reduced dramatically.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
Brace yourselves for more downrounds. “Unicorn companies' leaders still believe in their valuations and they wouldn't accept that they may have to see their valuations [go] lower than they think.” https://techcrunch.com/...