SoFi Shares Fall After SoftBank Says It Will Sell All or Part of Stake

(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. is selling at least part of its 9% stake in SoFi Technologies Inc., part of a sweeping effort at the Japanese conglomerate to reduce costs and stem losses in the valuation of its technology-focused Vision Fund investment portfolio.

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SoftBank sold about 5.4 million SoFi shares at a weighted average price of $7.99 on Aug. 5, according to a Monday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It sold an additional 6.7 million shares, at an average price of $8.17, on Monday. A subsidiary of SoftBank owned 83.2 million shares of SoFi as of June 30, according to the filing.

SoFi shares, which have declined 50% this year, dropped 3.5% in extended trading on the news. The financial technology company’s stock was little changed at $7.98 in New York trading.

SoftBank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son earlier Monday said he plans widespread cost cutting at his Tokyo-based company and the Vision Fund, following a record 3.16 trillion yen ($23.4 billion) loss. The Vision Fund has been hammered by a selloff in global technology stocks this year, and SoftBank also reported a $6.1 billion foreign exchange loss because of the weaker yen.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the world’s biggest technology investment vehicle, holds large stakes in hundreds of unlisted technology startups. But low valuations have been draining SoftBank’s ability to turn public listings of its portfolio companies into liquidity to fuel further big bets. Among the holdings marked down in value in the Vision Fund were Coupang Inc., SenseTime Group Ltd. and DoorDash Inc.

The fund was also hit by drops at AutoStore Holdings and WeWork. SoftBank exited its holding in Uber Technologies Inc., the US ride-hailing giant that was supposed to be a star in its portfolio.

(Updates with details from filing in second paragraph.)