SoftBank racks up losses as Vision Fund investments plunge

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. racked up a loss of 961.6 billion yen ($9 billion) for the fiscal year through March, on red ink related to its Vision Fund investments including troubled office space-sharing venture WeWork.

SoftBank, founded in 1981, said Monday the drop in share prices around the world from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic had slammed the value of its sprawling investments.

Tokyo-based SoftBank had reported a profit of 1.4 trillion yen the previous fiscal year. Its sales for the fiscal year inched up 1% to 6.2 trillion yen ($58 billion). It did not immediately break down quarterly results or give a forecast for the fiscal year through March 2021.

On top of WeWork's poor performance, the company suffered damage to the value of Uber and other holdings in its portfolio. The pandemic is adding to uncertainties.

The merger of Sprint with T-Mobile in the U.S. was completed April 1, in one bit of good news.

The pandemic was not expected to affect SoftBank's telecommunications business, such as mobile phone services in Japan. As people stay home to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, they tend to use more online deliveries and other internet-based activities.

But the company's technology licensing and royalty revenues may drop due to Arm, which provides microprocessors and other technology and is also part of SoftBank's operations, due to pandemic-related disruptions.

SoftBank's chief executive, Masayoshi Son, told reporters the company was facing “unprecedented challenges” because of the pandemic.

But he said some businesses such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Arm hold great potential, and the stock value of SoftBank's holdings has fallen but has steadied.

“I realize I am giving excuses, and the...