Masayoshi Son personally owes SoftBank close to $5bn because of growing losses on the Japanese conglomerate’s technology bets, which have also rendered the value of his stake in the group’s second Vision Fund worthless.
The billionaire’s ballooning personal liabilities, discovered through a Financial Times analysis of SoftBank’s recent filings, comes as the world’s biggest tech investor was hammered by plunging tech stocks and valuations in private companies over the past year.
The 65-year-old chief executive and founder of SoftBank last week said he would step back from running day-to-day operations at SoftBank. His main focus, he said, would be on the company’s British chip subsidiary Arm, after the technology conglomerate posted quarterly investment losses of $10bn.