# Has Softbank gone soft? By [Durwin](https://paragraph.com/@durwin) · 2022-08-31 --- ![SoftBank sustained losses so big, it might be hard to bounce back from this one. ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/9cd2ef8b0e613af8fe7d1c6db2f6dde990c9bd5c98e086600fd1655572680a0d.jpg) SoftBank sustained losses so big, it might be hard to bounce back from this one. SoftBank sustained losses so big, it might be hard to bounce back from this one. “SoftBank Group reported a record 3.16 trillion yen ($32.3 billion) net loss as a sell-off in global tech stocks continued to hammer its Vision Fund’s portfolio of investments.” “The Vision Fund segment posted a loss of 2.33 trillion yen in the three months ended June 30, following a then record 2.2 trillion yen loss in the previous quarter. SoftBank also reported a 820 billion yen foreign exchange loss because of the weaker yen.” The numbers are staggering. But is it anything new? Maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe it was the market. Maybe it was the crypto contagion spreading. Could it bad judgement, one drink too many or just some miscalculations on an excel sheet? See isn’t it interesting that when the market crumbles, the media portrays Son as a villain. But when times were better, they adorned him. Recall how just a few years ago, after he raised $100B for Vision Fund, everyone was praising and cheering for him. Remember how he lost $70B during the dot com crash in 2000? The media was painting him as the man who “lost the most money in history”. In history. That is not an easy title to win. Now, at $21.1B, he is the 3rd richest man in Japan. His golden touch as an investor was in 2000, when he placed a $20M bet in Alibaba. That blossomed to $130B in 2018. Not bad at all. Perhaps that’s why everyone was comfortable giving him billions. ![Just look at the size of their investments. ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d34be0e04da084cb8f55e8029b1d984810256c23043c251997bf086c3eba3073.png) Just look at the size of their investments. Just look at the size of their investments. He raised $100B for Vision Fund in 2017. At that time, it was 50X the largest venture funds in the market. It was unheard of. Vision Fund 2 was slightly smaller, at $40B, due to the WeWork debacle that scared off many limited partners. Between Vision Fund 1 and 2, dozens of unicorns were minted and many even IPO-ed. There was Uber, Didi, Opendoor, Zhong An, Klarna, Trax, Coupang, DoorDash and WeWork. You have to admit, despite whatever people might say, Son did single-handedly stimulated economies and birthed a few unicorns with his funds. So when the markets take a nose-dive, Son loses money, the media pours cold water on him. When the market goes back up, and Son’s portfolio follows, you can bet the media will hail him as a savant. Markets goes through cycles, there are no exceptions. What Son lost today, he could make back tomorrow. He is still sitting on a huge warchest and a nice reputation. ![Son showed the portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, a legendary shogun in the 1500s who was defeated in battle and forced to learn from his mistake. ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ffd7383253bf69e915f6a0ad76eeeb632d24cc63a3f8a2c4627ce84496119ed5.jpg) Son showed the portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, a legendary shogun in the 1500s who was defeated in battle and forced to learn from his mistake. Son showed the portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, a legendary shogun in the 1500s who was defeated in battle and forced to learn from his mistake. Yep, he really did pull a reference from 500 years ago. At least he bothered to reflect, apologise and took some responsibility. How many CEOs in his position and status would even bother to apologize so publicly? There will still be people who will trust him enough to give him billions. However big the losses, I’m sure he will make it to the other side. Should the media just accept that as a part of life and not make a big deal out of it? Nah, where’s the excitement then? \- Will the markets bounce back soon? \- #startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #entrepreneurship #strategy #masoyoshison #visionfund #markets #portfolio #investors #billions #softbank #humility --- *Originally published on [Durwin](https://paragraph.com/@durwin/has-softbank-gone-soft)*