TOKYO, May 9 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp founder and CEO Masayoshi Son said on Thursday he plans to announce a second Vision Fund soon, adding that initially SoftBank will likely be the only investor. The fund would be a similar size to the original Vision Fund, Son said, adding that many investors around the world have expressed interest in participating. SoftBank’s first almost $100 billion Saudi-backed Vision Fund has already burned through roughly $80 billion on around 80 tech companies. (Reporting by Sam Nussey and Kevin Buckland; Editing by Himani Sarkar)<doc-sep>See AirTag, Apple's new device for tracking your lost stuff Watch these UK commandos fly over the sea with new jet pack Energy regulator: Pipelines are at the forefront of our national defenses It's a boat? It's a plane? No, it's a 'seaglider.' And it goes fast...really fast Boston-based REGENT's "seaglider" is a mix between a boat and an aircraft with a top speed of 180 mph. 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The listing could value the ride sharing company at over $120 billion. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (CNN Business) — Why have one $100 billion mega tech fund, when you can have two? SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son announced Thursday that he is preparing to establish a second Vision Fund. The first version of the investment fund was backed by Saudi Arabia and poured billions into companies like Uber, WeWork and Slack. “This is the first time that we are officially announcing that we are preparing for the establishment of SoftBank Vision Fund 2,” Son said at the company’s earnings presentation. The size and structuring of the new fund hasn’t been decided yet, he said, but “roughly speaking we’d like a similar size to Vision Fund 1.” Son said many of the investors that backed the first Vision Fund are interested in taking part. Nearly half the money for that fund came from the Saudi government. Other investors included Apple (AAPL), Qualcomm (QCOM), Foxconn, Sharp (SHCAY) and Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates. The founder of the Japanese tech group said last year that SoftBank wouldn’t take any more Saudi cash until the truth about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was known. Amid a mounting global backlash, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi’s killing at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey was premeditated, but it maintained that neither Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman nor King Salman knew of the operation to target him. Asked on Thursday whether he would consider another investment from Saudi Arabia for Vision Fund 2, Son said it was still too early to discuss specific details. One funding option is for SoftBank to provide 100% of the money to get the new Vision Fund up and running quickly, “and invite other investors later,” he added. The first mega tech fund has already starting paying off for SoftBank. Operating profit for the Vision Fund and a related fund soared more than 300% to 1.26 trillion yen ($11.4 billion) for the fiscal year ended in March, accounting for more than half of the group’s earnings. SoftBank said the windfall was driven by the sale of a stake in Indian e-commerce company FlipKart to Walmart (WMT), and the rising value of its portfolio. Two recipients of Vision Fund money — Guardant Health (GH) and Ping An Good Doctor — went public last year. Three more — Uber, WeWork and Slack — are planning initial public offerings this year. Uber will be a big test for Son’s deal-making prowess — the ride-hailing company holds its highly anticipated IPO on Friday. SoftBank said Thursday that the value of its $7 billion investment in Uber has already gone up by 418 billion yen ($3.8 billion). The Vision Fund is the company’s largest shareholder with a 16.3% stake. The splashy investments and bumper returns have fueled reports that SoftBank is considering an IPO for its big tech fund. Son acknowledged “rumors” of a Vision Fund IPO, but declined to comment on the matter.<doc-sep>TOKYO (REUTERS) - SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son said on Thursday (May 9) he plans to announce a second Vision Fund soon, adding that initially SoftBank will likely be the only investor. The fund would be a similar size to the original Vision Fund, Mr Son said, adding that many investors around the world have expressed interest in participating. SoftBank's first almost US$100 billion (S$13.3 billion) Saudi-backed Vision Fund has already burned through roughly US$80 billion on around 80 tech companies.<doc-sep>Hours ahead of Uber Technologies Inc.’s market debut, the ride-hailing company’s biggest shareholder, Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp., is already reaping rewards, if only on paper. SoftBank’s operating income more than tripled to 494.9 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in the three months to March 31, helped by a 418 billion yen valuation gain from its stake in the ride-hailing giant, the Tokyo-based company reported on Thursday. Uber is going public this week in an offering that may give the company a market value of about $79 billion. Son has been remaking SoftBank Group from primarily a telecommunications operator into a technology investment firm, and his $100 billion Vision Fund has already emerged as a major contributor to earnings. SoftBank holds stakes in all of the world’s biggest ride-hailing companies, and a successful IPO for Uber could signal more payoffs down the road. “We only want companies that are No. 1 in their industries," Son said during a presentation in Tokyo after the earnings. “If you are going to do it at all, may as well be No. 1. I dislike being second, that’s just my personality." SoftBank announced a two-for-one stock split along with the strong earnings, while it keeps the same dividend payout per share. That will effectively double the annual dividend year over year. The Vision Fund and SoftBank’s own Delta Fund contributed 1.26 trillion yen to profit in the fiscal year ended March 31, or slightly more than half of the total. Investments in 29 companies showed an increase in fair value, while 12 reported a decline. In addition to Uber, SoftBank also booked a 203.4 billion yen valuation gain from its stake in Guardant Health Inc., which went public in October, and a 154.2 billion yen gain in India’s Oyo. It also recorded a 222.6 billion yen loss due to the share price decline in Nvidia Corp. “The Vision Fund is now the key growth driver for SoftBank and all the attention is on the profits in that segment," Tomoaki Kawasaki, an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities Co., said ahead of the earnings announcement. “There is a growing expectation in the market that profit gains will continue into this fiscal year." Son opened the earnings briefing with a slide of a graph snaking sharply up from 1999 to the present time. “Just remember this graph, the rest is error margin," Son said. “Who knows what this is? Whoever can guess right must be a real expert." After dismissing audience guesses of SoftBank Group’s operating income and value of portfolio companies, the reveal - shareholder value. Son said the company is worth 23 trillion yen, or more than 21,000 yen a share. SoftBank’s shares closed at a discount of more than 40% to that number and a market cap of 12.7 trillion yen. Son has long railed against the valuation gap, but investors are starting to come around. The shares have gained almost 60% this year, thanks to a record 600 billion yen share buyback and prospects of payoffs from Son’s technology bets. The billionaire said Vision Fund has already delivered a 45% rate of return after fees to limited partners on net equity basis. For SoftBank shareholders the return is 62%, he said. “There is no venture capital or private equity that delivers this kind of return," Son said. He added that SoftBank plans to set up a second Vision Fund soon and then will get investors on board. The first Vision Fund holds 69 investments at a cost totaling $60.1 billion, with ride-hailing as the single biggest segment. In addition to Uber, SoftBank has poured more than $10 billion into China’s Didi Chuxing, $3 billion into Southeast Asia’s leading provider Grab and $2.25 billion in General Motors Co.’s self-driving unit Cruise. Son has said that put together, Vision Fund’s portfolio companies control 90% of the ride-hailing market worldwide. SoftBank also invested into Slack Technologies Inc. in September 2017 in a financing round that valued the seller of chat and collaboration tools to businesses at $5.1 billion. The San Francisco-based company could now be worth more than triple that, at $16 billion when it goes public in June or July. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now! ! Topics<doc-sep>
SoftBank is set to launch a second $100bn (£77bn) Vision investment fund as the original profits from its early bets on Uber, WeWork and Slack. Founder Masayoshi Son said: “We are going to enter a true harvest season. The first fund is going extremely smoothly so we are going to formally start preparations for fund two.” Second time around, SoftBank may take 100 per cent ownership of Vision Fund II rather than share investment with Saudi Arabia. Those close to SoftBank told the Financial Times that it wanted to avoid being so tied up with a single investor following the opprobrium after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Vision Fund, which invests in late-stage startups, has burnt through almost $100bn within two years, and is reportedly in talks with Oman over a further multi-million-pound investment. Possible flotation The firm is also said to be mulling the flotation of its original Vision Fund as it looks to raise more cash. The value of Vision Fund’s $60.1bn investment in 69 companies had risen to $73.2bn by the end of March, with the fund poised to cash in on upcoming floats of some of its biggest bets. One of its more recent bets was in February, when it invested $324m in UK-based challenger bank challenger bank OakNorth, at the time the largest-ever fund-raise for a European fintech business. In March SoftBank announced the launch of a separate Softbank Acceleration Fund tech fund with up to $500m to pour into early-stage tech startups. And Softbank is providing half the cash for a new $400m (£310m) London-based European tech start-up fund run by Abu Dhabi state investment company Mubdala, which will invest between $5 million and $30 million in suitable European start-ups.