SoftBank Engineered a Turnaround for its $100B Vision Fund—It’s Not Out of the Woods Yet

Three things you need to know about SoftBank: 1) it's a mega tech-investor 2) CEO Masayoshi Son is a prolific AI pontificator 3) someone at the company is a slide deck sorcerer.

Last May, SoftBank graced us with the above graphic. Context: The Japanese conglomerate was battening down the hatches as losses mounted and portfolio companies shed value.

Now, SoftBank has engineered a turnaround for its $100 billion marquee investment vehicle.

• Vision Fund 1 returned $18 billion to LPs at the end of last year, the FT reports.
• SoftBank’s $680 million DoorDash bet now equals ~$11 billion.
• Other SoftBank-backed companies have soared in public markets.

But it’s not all peaches and cream, and zero interest rates won’t last forever. Vision Fund laid off 15% of its employees last year and has lost a number of key execs. SoftBank has sold off assets to reduce debt and placate activist investors. Many skeptical Silicon Valley VCs will forever keep SoftBank at arm’s length due to its brash investing style.

Zoom out: We’re watching SoftBank’s more tech-heavy bets, like Nuro, which are farther from commercialization or a liquidity event.