Recession Signal? Softbank Vision Fund Weighs Downsizing Up To 30%

Softbank Group Corp SFTBF has started laying off employees at its loss-making Vision Fund and will likely cut at least 30% of its staff.
Softbank has started telling some workers of the reductions, with at least 150 likely to be affected, Bloomberg reports.
The Vision Fund unit, headquartered in London, had about 500 employees, including the Latin America fund staff.
Earlier, 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.
Internally, SoftBank planned Vision Fund unit staff cuts of at least 20%, while some argued for up to 50%.
SoftBank raised more than $17 billion by selling forward contracts on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.
Softbank also explored the launch of a new giant startup investment fund after the poor performance of its two earlier funds.

The leading startup investor will likely use its cash for the third SoftBank Vision Fund. SoftBank had also weighed putting additional money into Vision Fund 2.

Son plans to visit Seoul for the first time in three years and discuss a potential partnership between Arm Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd SSNLF.