May 15, 2023: On Friday, shares of Japanese tech investor SoftBank decreased after the company stated a record loss at its Vision Fund tech investment unit.
SoftBank shares are shut at 3.68% lower in Tokyo.
On Thursday, the company said its Vision Fund segment lost a document of 4.3 trillion Japanese yen for its financial year ending Mar. 31.
It said a failure in investments at its Vision Funds of 5.28 trillion Japanese yen.
The $100 billion Vision Fund is launching in 2017 under the stewardship of SoftBank owner Masayoshi Son and is shooking up the tech investing world.
It invested in some of the increased-profile tech firms in the world, but a few of those bets, like that on WeWork, turned sour.
The Vision Fund, which has exposure to Chinese tech firms, has suffered from Beijing’s crackdown on the domestic tech sector and subsequent decrease in share costs.
On Thursday, SoftBank said it had logged failures in its investment in SenseTime, the Chinese artificial intelligence firm.
And while there has been better in the Nasdaq in the U.S. this year, the index is still lower over SoftBank’s fiscal year, which ended on Mar. 31. Tech stocks have witnessed headwinds from interest rate rises worldwide, which have forced investors to move out of riskier assets like high-growth equities.
To weather the storm, SoftBank has been trading stakes in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company that made Son and SoftBank its fortune, and U.S. ride-hailing company Uber.
SoftBank’s management pledged to go into “defence” mode and be more disciplined in their investment plan. The pace of investing has decreased in recent months.
But the company is now looking toward the next investment in artificial intelligence.
“AI is finally here,” Yoshimitsu Goto, chief fiscal officer at SoftBank, stated at a press conference on Thursday.
Goto questioned regarding SoftBank moving to the “offence” mode.
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