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SoftBank's Vision Fund suffered a record loss of ¥4.3tn ($32B) for its fiscal year ending March 31, compared to a loss of ¥2.55tn in the same period last year. The overall investment loss for the Vision Funds was ¥5.28tn, up from ¥3.43tn the previous year. Despite a rally in tech stocks this year, they are still broadly lower than a year ago, with the Nasdaq 100 index falling around 11% during SoftBank's fiscal year.
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SoftBank recorded losses in areas like SenseTime and GoTo despite making gains by exiting investments in high-profile companies such as Uber. The company has been divesting some of its most high-profile investments to raise funds and narrow losses. To this end, SoftBank has sold shares in T-Mobile and Alibaba, and is still disposing of Alibaba shares through a forward contract derivative.
Why it matters
SoftBank's more disciplined investment approach helped to reduce its Vision Funds' investment losses in Q4 2021 compared to the previous quarter. In FY2021, SoftBank invested $3.14 billion, down from $44.26 billion in the same period last year. Investors are now looking towards the IPO of SoftBank's owned British semiconductor firm, Arm, to strengthen the Japanese firm's balance sheet and fund new investments. Arm recently filed confidentially for a US listing despite previously indicating plans to list in the UK. According to SoftBank's CFO, preparations for the Arm IPO are progressing smoothly.
