SoftBank Group reports historic $13B loss, hit by falling tech valuations
In the financial year ended March 31, 2022, Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank reported a loss of $13 billion as global markets continue to dip.
SoftBank Group posted its biggest-ever loss on Thursday, hurt by a global selloff in technology shares that were brought about by China's crackdown on the tech sector and rising interest rates.
Group reported a loss of $13 billion (1.7 trillion yen) for the financial year ended March 31, 2022, compared with a profit of $38 billion (4.99 trillion yen) a year ago.
Last year, the Japanese conglomerate's results were helped by the listing of its portfolio company Coupang, a South Korean ecommerce firm. At present, Coupang is trading 70 percent below its listing price.
SoftBank's Vision Funds have been hit hard by the significant drop in tech valuations.
SoftBank's Vision Fund I and II and others saw a cumulative loss of $26.1 billion for the year compared with a gain of $61.1 billion in the previous fiscal.
The value of SoftBank's investments tends to fluctuate sharply due to the nature of investments.
The fund has lost money on several of its investments in this fiscal year, including $8 billion in China's Didi, $2.5 billion in Singapore's Grab, $14.6 billion in South Korea's Coupang, $1.2 billion in US's Uber, and $500 million US's DoorDash.
Closer home, One97 Communications, which is the parent company of fintech major Paytm—another of SoftBank's portfolio companies—also saw a write-down of $500 million in its investment value in this fiscal.
The markets have also punished New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global, which reported a loss of $17 billion on Tuesday, one of the biggest declines reported by a hedge fund in history.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta