SoftBank Sees $8.4b Net Loss On WeWork Writedown

SoftBank Group Corp said it sees a loss of around 700 billion yen ($6.6 billion) in the year ending March on the portion of its WeWork investment held outside the Vision Fund, extending the group’s expected net loss to 900 billion yen.

SoftBank maintained its forecast of a record annual operating loss of 1.35 trillion yen announced earlier this month as bets via the $100 billion fund sour.

SoftBank is embroiled in a legal dispute with directors at WeWork after backing out of a $3 billion tender offer agreed when it bailed out the office-sharing firm after a flopped IPO attempt last year.

The tech conglomerate has poured more than $13.5 billion into WeWork, one of a string of troubled bets by CEO Masayoshi Son that have laid waste to SoftBank’s full year earnings and are now being hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Reuters