SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has opted out of his legendary investor presentation for the first time.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has opted out of his legendary investor presentation for the first time in decades as the group’s Vision Fund took a big hit.

‘Our posture remains defensive and is focused on building resilience’ Navneet Govil, funds finance chief of the Vision Funds, said yesterday. It cut back on deals, with its two Vision Funds investing just $300mn in two companies, compared with $9.6bn during the same quarter in 2021. For the October to December quarter, SoftBank reported an investment loss of ¥731.94bn, compared with a ¥1.38tn loss in the previous quarter for its two Vision Funds and a fund investing in start-ups in Latin America. The exposure of Vision Funds to the chip export controls the US had imposed against China was also limited.

As of the end of December, SoftBank said the fair value of the $100bn Vision Fund I was down 4.4 per cent from a year earlier due to markdowns in privately held companies, despite gains in some listed holdings such as ridehailing groups Didi and Grab. The valuation for investments in Vision Fund II was down 6.2 per cent. Kirk Boodry, an analyst with Redex, said it would probably take time for perceptions on SoftBank and its Vision Funds to improve, making it hard to expand investments in the near future. «To be more proactive and aggressive with investing, they need money.» The Arm IPO was «the quickest way for them to monetise, but beyond that, there is not a lot you can sell within the Vision Fund because many of the investments are underwater».

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