SoftBank posts loss of $5.9B for December quarter

Japanese global investment company SoftBank incurred a loss of $5.9 billion for the October-December 2022 quarter, taking a hit from the steep drop in the shares of its investee companies.

The loss-making quarter follows the profitable July-September quarter of the current fiscal where the conglomerate posted a profit of around 3.3 trillion yen (approx $25 billion).

The main investment vehicles of SoftBank—Vision Fund 1, Vision Fund 2, and the LatAm Fund—posted a loss of $5.52 billion. These funds have now been posting losses for four quarters consecutively.

Softbank's investments span Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Once seen as a flagbearer for large investments into unlisted technology companies, it has taken a hit after many of these entities went public.

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The share value of its portfolio companies has steeply declined globally and a turnaround is unlikely anytime soon.

SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son, who skipped the company’s results presentation for the first time, had in the past talked about tempering the company’s investments and taking a defensive approach.

Now, SoftBank is placing its bets on the mega listing of its semiconductor portfolio company ARM—looking at public offerings in the US or the UK.

At the same time, media reports hint that the investment giant is also looking at the possibility of launching a third fund.

In India, Softbank has been one of the key large investors for startups, funding the likes of Ola, Oyo, Paytm, Delhivery, and PolicyBazaar, to name a few. However, it has failed to make any appreciable gains from the public listing of its portfolio companies in India like Delhivery, Paytm and Policybazaar, which are trading much below their issue price.