JAPANESE investment giant Softbank swung into the red between October and December, driven down by heavy losses at its flagship Vision Fund, the firm revealed yesterday.

Softbank's Vision Fund suffered the brunt of a global tech rout that has shaved billions from the value of the world's largest tech firms.

Vision Fund booked a loss on its investments of 730.4bn yen (£4.6bn)

between October and December while losses across the firm came in at 783.42bn yen, compared with a 29.05bn yen profit a year earlier.

The investor said its Vision Fund unit, which built a name for splashy bets on high growth tech firms, reined in its investments as tech firms were buffeted by inflation.

Softbank has been forced onto a defensive footing in the past 12 months and said it was continuing to shed some of its stakes as part of "defensive financial management".

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper