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The layoffs come as SoftBank tries to set up a public listing for Arm this year. Before the layoffs, Arm China had about 700 employees; there were no layoffs last year when parent Arm Ltd had global layoffs affecting up to 15% of its workforce, according to one of the sources. Arm China declined to comment. Arm China is the exclusive distributor of Arm licenses in China. One of the sources said some customers are concerned about Arm potentially changing how it charges royalties, as well as U.S.-China geopolitical tensions that could cut off access to Arm technology.

☆ AMD wins nearly a third of processor market, Arm's climb slows, analyst report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) has captured nearly a third of the market for central processor units while British chip technology firm Arm Ltd's rise in the PC market slowed in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to an analyst report. In the fourth quarter, Intel had 68.7% market share for x86 processors versus AMD's 31.3%, which was up from 28.5% a year earlier, according to Mercury Research. But the PC sales slump has also affected Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) Mac computer lineup, which is the leading source of sales for Arm-based PC chips. Mercury said Arm PC chips, led by Apple's in-house chips but also joined by Qualcomm Inc's (QCOM.O) recent PC chips for Windows machines, now have 13.3% share of the market PC chips, down from 14.6% a quarter earlier but still up from 10.3% share a year ago. Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Shares of Japan's Nintendo, SoftBank and Sharp tumble after earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of Nintendo dropped 6% after the maker of the Switch video game console reported lower sales and profit and cut its full-year outlook. Nintendo shares were on track for their biggest one-day loss since November. SoftBank shares fell 6.2% after it reported a quarterly loss, hit by its massive Vision Fund investment unit, which fell into the red for the fourth straight quarter. Nintendo is struggling with softer sales for the ageing Switch, while SoftBank has seen valuations weaken for its sprawling tech portfolio. "The Nintendo Switch is now a six-year-old console and demand is now exhausted," analyst Mark Chadwick said on Smartkarma.

☆ Shares of Nintendo, SoftBank tumble after earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of Nintendo dropped 7.6% after the maker of the Switch video game console reported lower sales and profit and cut its full-year outlook. Nintendo shares were on track for their biggest one-day loss since late 2021. SoftBank shares fell 6.6% after it reported a quarterly loss, hit by its massive Vision Fund investment unit, which fell into the red for the fourth straight quarter. Nintendo is struggling with softer sales for the ageing Switch, while SoftBank has seen valuations weaken for its sprawling tech portfolio. "The Nintendo Switch is now a six-year-old console and demand is now exhausted," analyst Mark Chadwick said on Smartkarma.

☆ SoftBank Loses Nearly $6 Billion in Quarter as Investments Suffer
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Megumi Fujikawa | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Masayoshi Son, chief executive of SoftBank Group, in Yokohama, Japan, in 2020. TOKYO—Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group Corp. said it fell back into the red in the three months to December as its investment vehicles posted a loss of nearly $6 billion. SoftBank on Tuesday posted a net loss of ¥783.4 billion, equivalent to about $5.9 billion, for the quarter ended Dec. 31.

☆ SoftBank tumbles to loss as Vision Fund in red for fourth straight quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Kiyoshi Takenaka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Vision Fund, which upended the world of technology with its big bets on startups, reported an investment loss of 730.36 billion yen ($5.52 billion) in the fiscal third quarter. At SoftBank itself, the net loss totalled 783.42 billion yen, compared with a 29.05 billion yen profit a year earlier. SoftBank said the Vision Fund unit had significantly curtailed new investments and was continuing to sell some older ones as part of "prudent defensive financial management" amid the challenging market environment. GOOD ARMThe bulk of the loss at the Vision Fund unit came from a steep decline in the valuation of investments in unlisted companies. Son invested heavily in artificial intelligence and other high-tech startups through the Vision Fund in recent years, delivering both record profits and heady optimism about future valuations.

☆ SoftBank Loses $5.9 Billion in Quarter as Investments Suffer
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Megumi Fujikawa | Eliot Brown | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Masayoshi Son, chief executive of SoftBank Group, in 2020; Tuesday marked the first quarterly earnings presentation in years that Mr. Son didn’t attend. TOKYO— SoftBank Group Corp. was the world’s biggest investor in startups in 2021. Now it is barely investing at all. A year into the tech rout, Tokyo-based SoftBank is still taking hits from a peak-of-the-market spending spree, as the company on Tuesday posted a $5.8 billion quarterly loss on its startup investment fund division, known as the Vision Fund, the bulk of the company’s overall $5.9 billion quarterly loss.

☆ SoftBank posts loss as Vision Fund in the red for fourth straight quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Kiyoshi Takenaka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) on Tuesday booked a net loss for October-December, as its giant Vision Fund investment unit remained in the red for a fourth straight quarter while a global tech sell-off battered valuations of its portfolio companies. The Vision Fund, which upended the world of technology with its big bets on startups, reported an investment loss of 730.36 billion yen ($5.52 billion) in the latest quarter. At SoftBank itself, the net loss totalled 783.42 billion yen, compared with a 29.05 billion yen profit a year earlier. SoftBank said the Vision Fund unit had significantly curtailed new investments and was continuing to sell some older ones as part of "prudent defensive financial management" amid the challenging market environment. The bulk of the loss at the Vision Fund unit came from a steep decline in the valuation of investments in unlisted companies.

☆ SoftBank Q3 seen under pressure from tech weakness, Arm IPO eyed
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kiyoshi Takenaka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SoftBank has said the initial public offering (IPO) is unlikely to take place during the current business year that ends in March due to market conditions. SoftBank is expected to post a net profit of 103.7 billion yen ($806.13 million) for the latest quarter, according to analysts' average estimate compiled by Refinitiv. That compares with a 29 billion yen profit a year earlier. SoftBank bought Arm, whose technology underpins the global smartphone industry and is used in supercomputers, for $32 billion in 2016. read moreOne notable change to SoftBank's quarterly announcement this time around is the lack of founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son's colourful presentation, which has been a regular feature of SoftBank's earnings disclosure.

☆ Shein to Name Ex-SoftBank Executive Claure to Head Latin America Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Keith Zhai | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—Shein, one of the world’s largest online fashion retailers, is set to appoint Marcelo Claure , a former executive at SoftBank Group Corp., as its Latin America chairman, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Claure also made a personal investment of about $100 million dollars in Shein, the people said.

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp has built a "significant" stake in Japanese automotive battery component supplier Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd (DNP) (7912.T), sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. A DNP spokesperson said the company had confirmed Elliott's investment late last year, but declined to comment on details. The Financial Times, which first reported the news, said Elliott now holds a stake just under 5% worth $300 million. Elliott declined to comment. It recently won a board seat at Pinterest Inc (PINS.N) when the company added Elliott portfolio manager Marc Steinberg as a director.

☆ Freight Forwarder Flexport Is Laying Off 20% of Its Workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Freight forwarder Flexport Inc. is cutting about 20% of its global workforce, or more than 600 workers, as the digital-focused business copes with falling shipping demand and repositions its operations to offer more supply-chain services. Mr. Petersen in June had estimated gross revenue of nearly $5 billion in 2022. The layoffs come amid a broader pullback in freight demand since the middle of last year as inflation has taken a toll on consumer demand and retailers have pulled back from earlier inventory restocking efforts. Mr. Clark, who led Amazon.com Inc.’s logistics expansion over his 20-plus years with the company, started as co-CEO at Flexport in September alongside the freight forwarder’s founder, Mr. Petersen. Mr. Clark is scheduled to fully take over the day-to-day leadership role on March 1, the company has said, and Mr. Petersen will then become executive chairman.

☆ British PM Sunak revives talks for Arm's London IPO -FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 9 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has revived talks with Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) regarding a London listing for chip designer Arm Ltd, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Sunak met Arm's Chief Executive Rene Haas last month in Downing Street and Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of SoftBank, joined via video, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The meeting was described as "very constructive" by two people briefed on the matter, and "positive" by another, the FT reported. Arm and SoftBank did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bankers not expecting quick recovery as IPO volumes plunge to lowest level since 2008
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro | Echo Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

With questions swirling around monetary policy and the prospect of a looming recession, IPO advisers are not holding their breath on a near-term recovery in the equity capital markets. Global share sales plunged this year as the IPO market froze and hundreds of companies postponed stock market debuts, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and interest rate hikes from central banks weighed on the broader economy. “It’s all about rates - the price of money changed and it has affected everything," said James Palmer, head of EMEA equity capital markets (ECM) at Bank of America. A return by long-only investors to capital markets deals is seen as key for any recovery, after a year in which hedge funds have taken a lead role as buyers of new issuance. "When the stock market is going like this, people typically don't buy new issuance," said Joshua Bonnie, co-head of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's global capital markets practice.

☆ SoftBank, Tencent Lead Way as Asia’s Tech Investors Become Stock Sellers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Dave Sebastian | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SoftBank and other large investors in Asian tech companies are pulling out of the sector. Some of the world’s most influential institutions are selling shares of Asia’s technology giants after owning them for years, a troubling sign for investors after what has already been a painful market selloff. In recent months, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. has pared its stakes in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and the Indian mobile-payments company Paytm, in both cases following declines in their share prices. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Warren Buffett’s company, has been gradually reducing its stake in BYD Co., a Chinese electric-vehicle maker that it has owned shares in since 2008.

☆ Slowing crypto startup funding may still surpass 2021 record - Pitchbook
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Medha Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Total funding at crypto startups this year is set to exceed investments in 2021, research firm Pitchbook said on Thursday though the pace of capital deployment is slowing as a series of crypto blowups sapped private equity investment appetite. Crypto projects globally attracted $19.9 billion in venture capital (VC) investments in the first nine months of 2022, 41% higher than a year ago, according to Pitchbook data. In total, last year drew in a record $21.2 billion. "The lack of clear regulation and guidance remains one of the crypto industry's greatest concerns and limiting factors," said Robert Le, crypto analyst at PitchBook. VCs infused $1.5 billion in the so-called Web3 companies in third quarter, a 44.5% growth sequentially, according to Pitchbook.

☆ Japanese billionaire Maezawa picks K-pop star TOP, DJ Steve Aoki to join SpaceX moon trip
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa reacts as he speaks with his family after donning space suits shortly before the launch to the International Space Station (ISS) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, December 8, 2021. REUTERS/Shamil ZhumatovTOKYO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Friday revealed that K-pop star TOP and DJ Steve Aoki will be among the eight crew members he plans to take on a trip around the moon next year, hitching a ride on one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets. The picks were announced by Maezawa on Twitter and at a website for what he dubbed the #dearMoon Project. Maezawa used the micro-blogging site to recruit eight crew members from around the world to join him on the moon trip, saying 1 million people had applied. U.S. Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu were named as backup crew members.

☆ Fanatics Hits $31 Billion Valuation in Latest Funding Round
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Miriam Gottfried | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fanatics expects to complete an IPO but plans to wait until some of its newer business lines are more established. Fanatics Inc. has raised about $700 million from a group of investors, pushing the sports-merchandising company’s valuation to $31 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. About two-thirds of the new money came from parties that hadn’t previously invested in the company, including private-equity firm Clearlake Capital Group LP, which led the round, and investment bank LionTree LLC, the people said. Prior Fanatics investors such as Silver Lake, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and SoftBank Group Corp. were also among the participants, they said.

☆ Singapore's Temasek holds internal review of $275 mln FTX-related loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A Temasek logo is seen at the annual Temasek Review in Singapore July 7, 2016. But Singapore's leader-in-waiting told parliament the loss was "disappointing" and had caused reputational damage to Temasek. After pumping about $275 million into FTX, Temasek decided to write down the investment following the spectacular collapse of the exchange. The review will be conducted by an independent internal team reporting directly to the board and will not involve those who made the investment, Wong said. Wong told lawmakers the individual loss did not impact returns to Singapore's reserves, which are tied to long-term returns.

☆ U.S. autonomous delivery vehicle startup Nuro cuts staff by 20%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Autonomous delivery vehicle maker Nuro is laying off about 20% of its workforce after admitting that rapid hiring in the past year was a mistake, the company's co-founders wrote in an email to employees on Friday. "Laying off team members is always the last resort, but unfortunately it was needed after other options were exhausted," the email said. Nuro's founders, Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, both worked on Google's self-driving car project, later spun out as Waymo, before launching Nuro. The layoffs will affect about 300 employees; impacted workers will be offered three months severance pay and other benefits, according to the email. Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Indonesia's GoTo to cut 1,300 jobs to step up cost cutting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GoTo said it has achieved around 800 billion rupiah ($51 million) in cost savings in the first half of this year through efficiency measures in technology, marketing and outsourcing. GoTo, which offers ride-hailing and financial services, went public in April with a $1.1 billion stock sale. Its shares are trading 44% below its initial public offering price, as investor sentiment on the tech sector sours amid soaring inflation and interest rates. Shares in GoTo rose 2.8% on Friday after announcing the job cuts. In recent months, Southeast Asia's largest-ecommerce firm Shopee cut jobs in various countries and shut some overseas operations as parent Sea (SE.N) struggle with losses.

☆ Special Report: FTX's Bankman-Fried begged for a rescue even as he revealed huge holes in firm's books
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Angus Berwick Anirban Sen Elizabeth Howcroft Lawrence Delevingne | Angus Berwick | Anirban Sen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

Sequoia was shocked at the amount of money Bankman-Fried needed to save FTX, according to the sources, while Apollo first asked for more information, only to later decline. The booklet flagged the risks of crypto trading, particularly how sudden sales of tokens could trigger a "domino effect" that would lead to a "cascading set of liquidity failures." Using profits from Alameda, Bankman-Fried launched FTX in 2019. From almost nothing in 2019, FTX handled about 10% of global crypto trading this year, a September document shows. At one point, he lived in a penthouse overlooking the Caribbean, valued at almost $40 million, according to two people who worked with FTX.

Nov 15 (Reuters) - A federal jury in Texas on Tuesday said Intel Corp (INTC.O) must pay VLSI Technology LLC $948.8 million for infringing a VLSI patent for computer chips. Last March VLSI won a nearly $2.2 billion verdict from Intel in a separate Texas trial over different chip patents, which Intel has appealed. VLSI lost another related patent trial against Intel the following month. An attorney for VLSI said at trial that Intel's chips cause "millions and millions of infringements per second." Two other patent cases brought by VLSI against Intel are still pending in Northern California and Delaware.

☆ As FTX collapses, Temasek becomes latest backer to write down $275 mln funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said it would write down the value of its entire investment of $275 million in collapsed crypto currency exchange FTX, in the latest move by FTX's investors. "In view of FTX's financial position, we have decided to write down our full investment in FTX, irrespective of the outcome of FTX's bankruptcy protection filing," Temasek said in a detailed statement on Thursday. "The cost of our investment in FTX was 0.09% of our net portfolio value of S$403 billion ($294.3 billion) as of 31 March 2022," it said. Temasek said its early stage investments made up about 6% of its total portfolio. ($1 = 1.3693 Singapore dollars)Reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore; Additional reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ SoftBank shares tumble after Vision Fund reports another big loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Shares in Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) plunged on Monday after the company reported a heavy loss at its Vision Fund investment arm for a third consecutive quarter. SoftBank shares were down 11.2% in morning trade, on track for their biggest one-day loss in more than 2-1/2 years. As of Friday's close, SoftBank shares had gained more than 40% since October. The Vision Fund logged investment losses of 1.38 trillion yen ($9.9 billion) in the three months to Sept. 30 as the value of its portfolio continued to slide. ($1 = 138.9900 yen)Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by David Dolan and Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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