Tokyo, Aug 8 : Japanese investment major SoftBank Group on Monday posted a huge $23.4 billion loss in the April-June quarter, as tech stocks continued to get hammered in the economic downturn.
The Masayoshi Son-led Japanese giant posted massive losses for its second straight quarter.The conglomerate earlier reported net loss at $16.2 billion for its January-March quarter this year.
Nikkei Asia reported that market turmoil pushed the investment group to a second straight quarter in red, as tech stock selloff spread.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund investment unit alone reported a net loss of nearly $21 billion.
In its previous fiscal year, the company had reported a net profit of 761.5 billion yen (nearly $5.60 billion), while its Vision Fund unit registered a profit of about 236 billion yen (around $1.74 billion).
The company said that the net loss in the June quarter “was recorded mainly due to monetisation of investments in public portfolio companies”.
“Unrealised loss on valuation (net) was mainly due to the decline in the share prices of public portfolio companies, which reflected the global downward trend in share prices due to growing concerns over economic recession driven by inflation and rising interest rates, as well as the decline in the fair value of private portfolio companies,” SoftBank announced.
SoftBank has invested heavily in India, especially in top companies like PolicyBazaar, Paytm and Delhivery, which are now publicly-traded companies.
Last month, key SoftBank executive Rajeev Misra left the company to start his own venture.
Rajeev Misra, who joined SoftBank in 2014, will stay in a reduced capacity with the group’s first $100 billion Vision Fund, according to reports.
The high-profile exit of Misra comes at a time when SoftBank is facing tremendous pressure in the economic downturn where tech and startup companies are bearing the brunt.
In June, French businessman Michel Combes, who joined as SoftBank Group International CEO in January this year, resigned abruptly.
Combes’ departure comes as several SoftBank employees have exited the company in recent months as the company’s global operations shrink.
The Japanese investment giant in May reported a huge net loss of $13.14 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, saying that it would be forced to cut startup funding by more than half this year.
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