Masayoshi Son, founder of Softbank, lost more than $130m in a personal bet on bitcoin, buying near the cryptocurrency’s record high and selling after it tumbled, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The loss represents a blemish for the Japanese billionaire, who has won the backing of investment funds across the Gulf as well as blue-chip companies such as Apple to seed the largest venture capital fund ever raised.
Mr Son’s investment came around the time of bitcoin’s record high of more than $19,000, which it hit in December 2017 as SoftBank was completing its $3.3bn takeover of US asset manager Fortress Investment Group.