After the venture capital arm of Vision Fund ended a year of record losses, Masayoshi Son is now personally responsible for nearly $5.2 billion in side businesses he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to increase his salary.
The Vision Fund unit posted its largest loss since Son proudly established the company in 2017 with a loss of 297.5 billion ($2 billion) in the three months ending in March, concluding the fiscal year with a total loss of 4.3 trillion. Despite an international resurgence in stocks, the largest technology investor in the world reported poor earnings due to losses on its portfolio of unlisted businesses.
His unrealized losses increased by nearly $130 million from three months prior, with the majority of the deficit being related to the fund for Latin America. On the same side, through the December quarter, SoftBank’s founder and CEO lost $5.1 billion.
Son owns a percentage of the primary investment vehicles owned by the business and has seen his stake in SoftBank increase recently. Despite the fact that there are ethical issues with his holdings, the Japanese billionaire has refuted any potential conflicts of interest.
According to filings for the March quarter, portfolio losses increased Son’s deficit to approximately $2.9 billion from his Vision Fund 2 interest and $463 million from the Latin America fund. He still owed $24.6 billion ($1.8 billion) to SB Northstar. Bloomberg calculated the debt to be $5.2 billion based on company disclosures.
The 65-year-old billionaire owns 17.25% of both a vehicle established under SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 for its unlisted holdings and 17.25% of a division within the firm’s Latin America fund, which also invests in startups. He owns a 33% stake in the company’s stock and derivatives trading platform, SB Northstar.
There is no immediate due date for repayment; Son’s positions may increase in value in the future, and Son has already contributed some cash and other assets to SB Northstar. The fund’s life, which is 12 years with a two-year extension, would terminate when the founder paid his portion of any “unfunded repayment obligations.”
According to calculations by Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Son’s net worth as of Thursday’s close was $8.9 billion after accounting for his deficit from his holdings in SB Northstar, Vision Fund 2, and the Latin America fund.
Following the financial reports, SoftBank shares declined in early Friday trade in Tokyo. The stock experienced its greatest drop in about two months, falling as high as CK%. In addition to the losses, investors were hoping for a buyback, but none occurred.
