Part of its 9% stake in SoFi Technologies Inc. is being sold by Bloomberg -- SoftBank Group Corp. as part of a sweeping effort to reduce costs and stem losses in the valuation of its technology-focused Vision Fund investment portfolio.
SoftBank sold about 5.4 million SoFi shares at a weighted average price of $7.99 on Aug. 5, according to a Monday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. An additional 6.7 million shares, at an average price of $8.17, were sold on Monday. A subsidiary of SoftBank owned 83.2 million shares of SoFi as of June 30, according to the filing.
SoFi shares, which have declined 50% this year, dropped 3.5% in extended trading on the news. The financial technology company's stock was little changed at $7.98 in New York trading.
After a record 3.16 trillion yen loss, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank said earlier Monday that he plans to cut costs at his Tokyo-based company and the Vision Fund. The Vision Fund has been hammered by a selloff of global technology stocks this year, and SoftBank reported a $6.1 billion foreign exchange loss because of the weaker yen.
SoftBank's Vision Fund, the world's biggest technology investment vehicle, holds large stakes in hundreds of unlisted technology startups. SoftBank's ability to turn public listings of its portfolio companies into liquidity has been hampered by low valuations, and has resulted in a lot of bets. In the Vision Fund holdings were Coupang Inc., SenseTime Group Ltd. and DoorDash Inc.
The fund was also hit by drops at AutoStore Holdings and WeWork. SoftBank exited its holdings in Uber Technologies Inc., the US ride-hailing giant that was supposed to be a star in its portfolio.
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