BENGALURU: Japanese conglomerate SoftBank on Monday said its Vision Fund – one of the world’s largest tech investors – lost a staggering USD 17.7 billion last fiscal due to dismal performance by its unicorn portfolio companies including WeWork, Uber and OYO. The Tokyo-headquartered firm said it incurred a loss of nearly USD 9 billion for the fiscal ended in March 2020.
The bleak number came on a day when the firm’s high-profile board member Jack Ma stepped down. The exit of Ma, co-founder of Ali Baba, could lead to further distancing of SoftBank from one of its largest portfolio companies. The group has now nominated three new directors, as investors seek more transparency.
During the earnings presentation on Monday, SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son compared COVID-19 to the Great Depression. He said tech start-ups were falling "in a valley of coronavirus". Painting a grim future, he said that out of the 88 companies the group has invested in, 15 are likely to go bankrupt and 15 unicorns can survive the tide and bring more investments.
Some of SoftBank’s biggest portfolio companies, including Uber, WeWork, OYO have already fired thousands of employees the world over. On Monday, WeWork India CEO Karan Virwani wrote to his employees saying “an immediate need to cut costs has led the company to cut 20 per cent of its workforce (100 employees) in India”.