SoftBank suffers $1.4-bn loss in 2016-17 from investments in Snapdeal, Ola and others
SoftBank Group's intermediate holding firm Starfish I Pte Ltd owns preferred shares in Jasper Infotech, who runs 'Snapdeal.com,' an e-commerce site In India.
- May 10, 2017,
- Updated May 10, 2017 4:27 PM IST
Japan's SoftBank Group has recorded loss of $1.4 billion in 2016-17 from investments in Snapdeal, Ola and others.
It wrote off over $1 billion on valuation of its investment in Snapdeal.
Also read: Snapdeal initiates payouts to fired staff, offers retention bonus to existing employees
SoftBank Group's intermediate holding firm Starfish I Pte Ltd owns preferred shares in Jasper Infotech, who runs 'Snapdeal.com,' an e-commerce site in India.
Also read: Japan's SoftBank takes driving seat in Indian online shake-up
Softbank in a release said, "Highly competitive e-commerce market in India has made a trend of the company's business performance lower than initially anticipated. This situation caused a material decrease in net asset value of Starfish I Pte as of March 31, 2017, and therefore SoftBank Group impaired the carrying amount of its shares in the company, to the amount equivalent to its net asset value."
For the nine months ended December 2016 too, SoftBank booked an investment loss of 39.28 billion yen (USD 350 million) on its investments in India, including those in cab-hailing firm Ola and e-commerce company Snapdeal.
SoftBank has poured roughly $1 billion into Snapdeal since 2014, but competition in e-commerce has risen dramatically with US giant Amazon cranking up its presence and taking the No. 2 spot from Snapdeal.
SoftBank had led a $210-million investment in Ola and $627 million in Snapdeal in October 2014. It made follow-on investments in both firms.
SoftBank is best-known for its hugely lucrative early stage bet in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, in which it is still the single-largest investor.
SoftBank is the biggest investor in India's leading ride-share player Ola, which competes with Uber, and its top hotel aggregator Oyo.
SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son and other partners have also pledged to pour $20 billion into solar projects in the energy-hungry South Asian nation.
The Japanese firm has so far invested close to $2 billion in India and earlier this year it stated that it is looking to scale up investments to $10 billion in next 5-10 years.
Japan's SoftBank Group has recorded loss of $1.4 billion in 2016-17 from investments in Snapdeal, Ola and others.
It wrote off over $1 billion on valuation of its investment in Snapdeal.
Also read: Snapdeal initiates payouts to fired staff, offers retention bonus to existing employees
SoftBank Group's intermediate holding firm Starfish I Pte Ltd owns preferred shares in Jasper Infotech, who runs 'Snapdeal.com,' an e-commerce site in India.
Also read: Japan's SoftBank takes driving seat in Indian online shake-up
Softbank in a release said, "Highly competitive e-commerce market in India has made a trend of the company's business performance lower than initially anticipated. This situation caused a material decrease in net asset value of Starfish I Pte as of March 31, 2017, and therefore SoftBank Group impaired the carrying amount of its shares in the company, to the amount equivalent to its net asset value."
For the nine months ended December 2016 too, SoftBank booked an investment loss of 39.28 billion yen (USD 350 million) on its investments in India, including those in cab-hailing firm Ola and e-commerce company Snapdeal.
SoftBank has poured roughly $1 billion into Snapdeal since 2014, but competition in e-commerce has risen dramatically with US giant Amazon cranking up its presence and taking the No. 2 spot from Snapdeal.
SoftBank had led a $210-million investment in Ola and $627 million in Snapdeal in October 2014. It made follow-on investments in both firms.
SoftBank is best-known for its hugely lucrative early stage bet in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, in which it is still the single-largest investor.
SoftBank is the biggest investor in India's leading ride-share player Ola, which competes with Uber, and its top hotel aggregator Oyo.
SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son and other partners have also pledged to pour $20 billion into solar projects in the energy-hungry South Asian nation.
The Japanese firm has so far invested close to $2 billion in India and earlier this year it stated that it is looking to scale up investments to $10 billion in next 5-10 years.