The demise of Softbank seems largely exaggerated [1]. While surely some investments are struggling, overall the company seems still to be in good shape.
[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/08/07/business/corpor...
[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/08/07/business/corpor...
One, that article [1] precedes the WeWork debacle.
Two, it refers to SoftBank Corp., a conglomerate that also holds a large stake in Alibaba. Nobody doubts SoftBank Corp’s solvency. Its Vision Fund is the dubious foray, to which the Corp is insufficiently exposed to be tanked by.
[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/08/07/business/corpor...
boosted by a special profit from selling part of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
After they sold 11.1B of Alibaba shares[0] (virtually all booked as profit because of when they bought them), they ended the quarter with $10.6B in profits. So excluding that, they actually had a loss of 500m in one quarter.
Softbank owned over $100B in alibaba shares... all derived from a single purchase of $20m of alibaba shares in 1999.
Softbank's market cap is currently $77B. They're worth less than their Alibaba stake.
0. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-04/softbank-...