SoftBank sets out jobs layoffs at Vision Fund after major loss

After posting a massive loss of more than $23 billion in the April to June quarter, employees at SoftBank’s flagship Vision Fund are bracing for job cuts.

In a recent earnings call, SoftBank’s founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son, said that the company needed to undertake a cost-cutting initiative that would see staff numbers at the Vision Fund “reduce dramatically.”

“The market and the world is in confusion,” explained Son. “If we had been a little more selective and invested properly, it would not have hurt as much. I want to reflect on this and remember this as a warning.”

As a direct result of rapidly falling share prices regarding the companies the Vision Fund had invested in, the firm has seen a great deal of its investment gains wiped out. In a sign that illustrates the major change in mood at the business, only $600 million in new investments were given the go-ahead in the first quarter, a dramatic reduction from the more than $20 billion in the same period last year.

In a bid to raise funds, the firm has sold its shareholding in a number of businesses, including Uber, which resulted in a total of $5.6 billion. The situation at Vision Fund 2 is also bad, with the value of the 269 firms in this group falling to $37.2 billion in June, significantly below the $48.2 billion cost that the fund paid for these shares initially.

The Japanese multinational firm also approved a 400-billion-yen share buyback program. Son admitted that he feels ashamed for being so elated by big profits in the past and said that the firm will not make the same mistakes again.