Softbank Vision Fund loses $16.7bn of its value

The fund invested $98 billion in 88 businesses including WeWork which went from a $40 billion valuation to $8 billion.

The Vision Fund is backed by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates among others. Softbank has a one third stake in the fund.

The loss torpedoes any chance of getting the planned Vision Fund II off the ground.

Softbank says it will take a $12 billion operating loss as a result of the fall in the valuation of the fund.

Softbank says it will also take a $7.4 billion non-operating loss on other investments made by Softbank held outside the Vision Fund like OneWeb, the failed satellite initiative.

Softbank points to its $125 billion stake in Alibaba as a guarantee of its huge debts, but questions have been raised over how liquid this investment actually is.