SoftBank Vision Fund Layoffs: Company to slash 20% jobs as founder Masayoshi Son makes big AI bets

The Vision Fund of SoftBank Group Corp is laying off 20 per cent of its workers amid founder Masayoshi Son’s attempt to shift focus to artificial intelligence, multiple reports said on Friday.

According to the report by Bloomberg quoting sources, the Vision Fund unit of SoftBank is likely to let go of over 50 employees as part of the job cut. As of end of March this year, Vision Fund employed about 282 people.

The Vision Fund layoffs is part of years of cutbacks as the unit lost its importance as compared to Masayoshi Son's growing appetite for AI bets.

A Vision Fund spokesperson confirmed job cuts in the offing, without elaborating.

“We continually adjust the organization to best execute our long-term strategy—making bold, high-conviction investments in AI and breakthrough technologies,” the spokesperson said in an email.

SoftBank's AI plans

Masayoshi Son's AI plans include an investment of around $30 billion in OpenAI and a $6.5 billion deal to acquire chip designer Ampere Computing, which faces regulatory scrutiny. SoftBank has so far invested roughly $10 billion in OpenAI.

The Japanese firm has also partnered OpenAI and Oracle Corp. for the roll-out of a $500 billion Stargate initiative to build AI data centers and other infrastructure across the US. And Son is working on another $1 trillion project to create an AI industrial park and seeking partnership from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Reuters first reported the staff reduction. Livemint could not independently verify the authenticity of the report.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund has been selling down key assets as it works to secure funding for sizable AI investments.

With the company zeroing in on a handful of sizable investment deals, the Vision Fund no longer needs an army of investment advisers to oversee fresh or existing deals.

The $100 billion-plus Vision Fund, launched in 2017, employed as many as 474 people at its peak in the year ended March 2020, according to SoftBank’s annual securities report. The unit’s workforce has shrunk by about 40% since.

The restructuring marks a return to Son’s classic high-risk, high-reward approach of making massive, concentrated wagers, moving on from the sprawling venture capital model that defined the last era of the Vision Fund, and a period in which the group was forced to de-risk, sell assets and rebuild credibility after incurring billions in losses on its once high-flying bet on the office-sharing startup WeWork.

(With inputs from agencies)