Softbank Offloads Stake In This Pandemic Favorite As Losses Weigh

Softbank Group Corp SFTBF SFTBY has sold its entire stake in Sinch AB CLCMF following a share price collapse of more than 90% in the Swedish cloud-based platform provider.
Sinch plummeted 93% from a peak in September 2021 following disappointing earnings reports, Bloomberg reports.
The stock is also among the most shorted in Europe.
In 2020, Sinch became an investor favorite as pandemic lockdowns fueled demand for its messaging services.
Investors also cheered its aggressive pace of acquisitions.
The report added that Softbank, which acquired a tenth of Sinch in November 2020, sold its remaining stake of 5% to Sinch's co-founder and interim CEO Johan Hedberg and Neqst D2 AB, a firm connected to the company's Chair Erik Froberg.
The stake acquisition by Sinch's largest shareholder and the firm's co-founder could partially offset the potentially harmful aspect of the Softbank sale, Morgan Stanley said.
Softbank started laying off employees at its loss-making Vision Fund.
Earlier, Softbank founder Masayoshi Son had shared cost-cut intentions at his conglomerate and the Vision Fund investment arm after a record $23-billion loss. Most of the losses came from a plunge in the valuations of portfolio companies, including South Korea's Coupang, Inc CPNG and DoorDash, Inc DASH.
Price Action: SFTBF shares were down 0.76% at $34.54 at the last check Friday.