Started from the valley, now we here... SoftBank is the Japanese tech and telecom investment giant behind companies like Uber and Alibaba. A year ago, SoftBank posted a record-shattering $18B loss for its techy Vision Fund, as the value of its Uber and WeWork stakes plunged. SB's precious unicorns were (literally) falling into the "Valley of Coronavirus" (see: slide 50). Now...
“Producer of Golden Eggs”... how SoftBank describes itself in its iconic decks. During IPO-Palooza, a few of SoftBank's biggest fund unicorns made splashy public debuts. As their valuations soared, so did SoftBank's investment gains (at least, on paper). As of March, its $100B Vision Fund had racked up $57B in gains — 84% of which were unrealized (SoftBank didn't sell its shares).
SoftBank is going long... on tech (see: 300-year plan). Instead of selling shares, SoftBank is holding... and adding. Despite recent shakiness in the market, SoftBank is doubling down on tech investments — and shifting away from telecom. It tripled the amount of capital it has pledged to its second techy Vision Fund (which includes Cameo and Didi Grocery). Meanwhile, SoftBank has sold billions worth of T-Mobile and Sprint shares.