Softbank's Rajeev Misra steps down as corporate officer and exec VP

Remains CEO of SB Investment Advisers which manages SoftBank Vision Fund 1, Masayoshi Son to manage second Vision Fund; move follows record losses in the Japanese investment group

SoftBank Group Corp. in a statement said that Rajeev Misra will step down from the position of Corporate Officer and Executive Vice President of SBG, effective from August 31, 2022. He will continue to serve as CEO of SB Investment Advisers which manages SoftBank Vision Fund 1.

The development comes as the Japanese investment group has made record losses due to a slide in its tech stocks. Masayoshi Son, founder of Softbank, has said that he will take over the management of the second Vision Fund.

It has been reported in the media that Misra will soon announce his own fund for which he has raised $6 billion so far. Misra was the key person who worked closely with Son in setting up the Vision Fund I with a total corpus of $100 billion.

However, the recent tech stock meltdown has hit Softbank's investments. The Tokyo-based firm lost a record $23.4 billion on plunging portfolio valuations. It lost as much as $17.3 billion in the VF on marking down the value of holdings such as DoorDash, Coupang, and SenseTime Group. The firm also reported a $6.1-billion foreign exchange loss because of a weak yen.

"The loss is the biggest in our corporate history and we take it very seriously,” Son said at a press conference after the results. He said the firm has to resort to major cost-cutting efforts at VF, which will have to include a reduction in headcount.

Son delved into the missteps and problems in his portfolio. He said SoftBank had marked down 284 companies in its portfolio in the latest quarter, while only 35 rose in value. The markdowns consisted of publicly-traded portfolio firms and many private firms whose estimated values had dropped due to lower comparisons or weak performance.