Deals
SoftBank Forecasts Record Losses as Startup Bets Backfire
- Vision Fund operations are set to book a 1.8 trillion yen loss
- Another 800 billion yen of losses come from WeWork, OneWeb
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SoftBank Group Corp. forecast a record 1.35 trillion yen ($12.5 billion) operating loss for the fiscal year ended in March, a sign of how badly Masayoshi Son’s bets on technology startups have been battered in recent months.
The Japanese company expects to record a 1.8 trillion yen loss from its Vision Fund and another 800 billion yen in losses from SoftBank’s own investments. It has written down the value of investments in companies, including office-rental startup WeWork and satellite operator OneWeb, which filed for bankruptcy last month. SoftBank’s shares fell as much as 4.2% to 4,025 yen in Tokyo on Tuesday.