SoftBank posts record $32 billion loss at its Vision Fund tech investment arm

SoftBank recorded a record loss for its Vision Fund as a recent rally in tech stocks has done little to help another difficult year for its flagship investment unit.

The Japanese giant’s Vision Fund segment posted a 4.3 trillion Japanese yen ($32 billion) loss for its fiscal year ending Mar. 31 versus a 2.55 trillion yen loss in the same period a year before.

SoftBank posted an overall loss on investments at its Vision Funds of 5.28 trillion Japanese yen versus 3.43 trillion yen a year before. Despite a rally this year in tech stocks, they are broadly still lower than a year ago. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index declined about 11% during SoftBank’s fiscal year.

Overall, SoftBank posted a net loss of 970.14 billion yen for the fiscal year, narrower than the 1.7 trillion loss in the same period a year before.

SoftBank said that, despite gains from exiting investments in high-profile companies like ride-hailing firm Uber, it logged losses in other areas, including the share prices of Chinese artificial intelligence firm SenseTime and Indonesian ride-hailing and e-commerce company GoTo.

Over the past year, SoftBank has been exiting some of its highest-profile investments to raise cash. In August, it said it had sold its remaining stake in U.S. ride-hailing giant Uber. And the company continues to sell some of its Alibaba shares via a derivative called a forward contract. Son made his fortune with an early investment in Alibaba more than two decades ago. 

SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the brainchild of founder Masayoshi Son, invests in high growth stocks which have faced headwinds from rising interest rates globally causing investors to sell out of riskier equities such as tech.

Around a year ago, Son said SoftBank would go into “defense” mode amid the headwinds and become more disciplined with its investments.

That tactic appeared to be working in SoftBank’s fiscal fourth quarter from January to March, helped by the rally in tech stocks. SoftBank’s Vision Funds recorded investment losses 236.8 billion yen in the period, versus 730.3 billion yen in the quarter before.

Now investors are looking toward the initial public offering of British semiconductor firm Arm, which is owned by SoftBank, as a way to shore up the Japanese firm’s balance sheet and perhaps give it more money to make new investments. Last month, Arm filed confidentially for a listing in the U.S. Arm previously said it would list in the U.S. over the U.K., dealing a blow to the London stock exchange.