The well-known SoftBank Vision Fund plans to cut its investments by more than half. This was announced today by Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank. It must be said that the investment fund has published very poor annual results. 3.5 trillion yen, or 26.3 billion euros, have so far gone up in smoke. The worst score since its launch in 2017.
An unattractive situation for SoftBank
Dreamed up by Masayoshi Son, the Vision Fund is at the heart of SoftBank’s strategy to reposition itself as an investment company. For several years, the fund shone with the big names it supported or still supports: Boston Dynamics, WeWork, ARM, ByteDance, Grab… Big names, but which have not always been big hits.
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From now on, the economic situation will destabilize the prices of its investments. Between inflation, the increase in interest rates, the war in Ukraine, or even the return of Covid-19 in China, the stock markets are holding their breath. ” When the world is a mess, SoftBank should play defense explains the CEO of SoftBank. Thus, the Vision Fund will continue to invest, but ” the amount of new investments will be halved or could be only a quarter “.
In addition, the big wave of regulatory crackdown on technology led by Xi Jinping for more than a year has hurt the stars of the country, in which SoftBank had placed funds. This is particularly the case of Alibaba, who was the Turk’s head of the CCP. Its valuation has more than halved. ” There are wonderful companies in China and we will invest there, but with smaller transactions “, specified Masayoshi Son.
However, he remains confident of a return to normal soon, “ In a year or two, I think the stock market will recover and it’s time to go on the offensive.. In the meantime, SoftBank still has good news on future cash inflows. One of its jewels of the moment, the ARM chip designer, after an unsuccessful takeover attempt by Nvidia, could go public. These are in any case the projects of the Japanese bank, which could draw several billion euros.