SoftBank's flagship investment arm, the Vision Fund, reported losses for a fourth consecutive quarter as its tech firm's stakes continue to shrink in value.
The Japanese conglomerate said on Tuesday that its Vision Funds segment posted 730 billion Japanese yen $5.5 billion in pre-tax losses for the quarter to December 31, compared with a 108 billion yen profit for the same period last year.
The loss has been attributed to the markdowns of weaker performing companies and share price declines in market comparable companies, the flagship tech investment vehicle Vision Fund has historically poured into start-ups and listed tech giants, but has admitted that the tech rout in the past year has resulted in an overall decrease in the fair value of Softbank 9984. The companies it is talking about are Hong-Kong-listed AI firm SenseTime 20, which has plummeted 58% in the last 12 months, and Indonesian technology firm GoTo GOTO, which is down 68% in the last year. The fund has been selling stakes. In August, Softbank sold its entire stake in Uber UBER and reduced its holdings in Alibaba 9988, BABA, from 23.7% to 14.6% via forward contracts. The company has opted for a more conservative approach when it comes to making new investments. In the nine months to December 31, it made just $2.76 billion in new and follow-on investments, which is much less than the $39.24 billion it made in 2021. The US chip-design company, Softbank discloses $100 million investment in FTX but mostly avoids crypto bets. Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said he wouldn't speak at quarterly earnings presentations, instead focusing on a possible public listing of Arm, a U.K. chip-design company, by March 2024.