SoftBank's Vision Fund reports heavy losses again as founder takes step back

SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which has led multi-million dollar investments into the likes of Revolut and Klarna, has reported heavy losses for the third consecutive quarter as the founder of its parent company steps back from running day-to-day operations.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund reported investment losses of 1.38 trillion yen (£8.6 billion) in the three months to the end of September, as the value of its portfolio continued to fall.

However, SoftBank overall reported its first quarterly profit in three quarters, helped by selling off some of its stake in Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba. 

Meanwhile, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said he would now “devote” himself to steering the growth of UK chip designer Arm, which is owned by the Japanese group. 

“For the next few years, I would like to devote myself to Arm’s next phase of explosive growth,” Son said, in comments first reported by the Financial Times.

“I would like to delegate financial earnings and other daily management operations to other executives.” 

SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which has led multi-million dollar investments into Revolut,Klarna,OakNorth and Zopa, is dialing down on its fintech investments after its Vision Fund has suffered recent significant losses.

Son has previously said of its Vision Fund that "like it or not we know that we have to reduce operational cost” and that “for new investments, we have to be more selective”.

Shares in SoftBank today (Monday) have fallen around thirteen per cent, following the announcement of its Vision Fund losses.

But shares in SoftBank are still up more than 10 per cent on the year.