SoftBank $hamed by WeWork, Uber

The implosion of SoftBank’s outsize investment office-sharing company WeWork left the Japanese conglomerate and its massive tech-investment fund with billions of dollars in writedowns and the biggest quarterly loss in its 38year history.

Standing in front of a giant screen projection of stormy seas and dire Japanese-language headlines, SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son told a news conference in Tokyo that he had made serious errors in judgment that led the group to post earnings “of the deepest red.”

SoftBank and the Vision Fund wrote down the value of their WeWork stakes by $4.7 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively. The $100 billion Vision Fund also wrote down the value of its holdings in once-hot Uber and around 20 other investments, leading to an operating loss — the fund’s first — of nearly $9 billion in the quarter, and a groupwide net loss of $6.4 billion.

“My own investment judgment was really bad.

I regret it in many ways,” Son said.

Son is fighting to preserve his reputation as one of the world’s savviest and most influential tech investors following the spectacular collapse of one of his most prized portfolio companies, and the tumble in value of several others.

Gotham-based WeWork, officially known as the We Co., lost almost $40 billion in value after an attempt to go public backfired a few months ago amid widespread skepticism about its profitability and management.