“SoftBank Vision Fund Posts $17.7 Billion Loss on WeWork, Uber”, Pavel Alpeyev2020-05-18 (economics; backlinks)⁠:

SoftBank Group Corporation said its Vision Fund business lost 1.9 trillion yen ($17.7 billion) last fiscal year after writing down the value of investments, including WeWork and Uber Technologies Inc.

The company posted an overall operating loss of 1.36 trillion yen in the 12 months ended March and a net loss of 961.6 billion yen, according to a statement on Monday. The Tokyo-based conglomerate released figures in two preliminary earnings statements last month. The losses are the worst ever in the company’s 39-year history. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son’s $100 billion Vision Fund went from the group’s main contributor to profit a year ago to its biggest drag on earnings. Uber’s disappointing public debut last May was followed by the implosion of WeWork in September and its subsequent rescue by SoftBank. Now Son is struggling with the impact of the coronavirus on the portfolio of startups weighted heavily toward the sharing economy.

“The situation is exceedingly difficult”, Son said at a briefing discussing the results on Monday. “Our unicorns have fallen into this sudden coronavirus ravine. But some of them will use this crisis to grow wings.”

The drop in Uber’s share price was responsible for about $5.2 billion of Vision Fund’s losses in the period, while WeWork contributed $4.6 billion and another $7.5 billion came from the rest of the portfolio, SoftBank said. The $75 billion the Vision Fund has spent to invest in 88 companies as of March 31 is now worth $69.6 billion. SoftBank also recorded losses from its own investments, including WeWork and satellite operator OneWeb, which filed for bankruptcy in March.

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