"The cuts mark the third round of layoffs at the Japanese investment conglomerate's flagship fund since 2022. Vision Fund currently has over 300 employees globally. Unlike previous rounds, when the group was saddled with major losses, the latest reductions come after the fund last month reported its strongest quarterly performance since June 2021, driven by gains in public holdings such as Nvidia and South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang."
"The move signals a pivot away from a broad portfolio of startup investments. While the fund will continue to make new bets, remaining staff will dedicate more resources to Son's ambitious AI initiatives, such as the proposed $500 billion Stargate project - an initiative to build a vast network of U.S. data centers in partnership with OpenAI, the source added."
"The restructuring marks a return to Son's classic high-risk, high-reward approach of making massive, concentrated wagers, moving on from the sprawling venture capital model that defined the last era of the Vision Fund, and a period in which the group was forced to de-risk, sell assets and rebuild credibility after incurring billions in losses on its once high-flying bet on the office-sharing startup WeWork."
SoftBank Group will lay off nearly 20% of its Vision Fund team globally as resources shift to Masayoshi Son's large-scale AI bets in the United States. The cuts constitute the third round of layoffs since 2022, with Vision Fund employing over 300 people. The latest reductions follow the fund's strongest quarterly performance since June 2021, driven by gains in Nvidia and Coupang. Remaining staff will focus on AI initiatives, including the proposed $500 billion Stargate project to build U.S. data centers with OpenAI. The restructuring returns the fund to concentrated, high-risk, high-reward investments under Son.
Read at Fast Company
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]