CEO Masayoshi Son personally lost $1.3 billion on SoftBank stock trading

CEO Masayoshi Son said he personally took a $1.3 billion hit on his firm’s controversial stock and options investment program. 

The 150 billion yen loss for the founder of SoftBank Group came from his one-third stake in SB Northstar, SoftBank’s vehicle for investing in what it termed “highly liquid listed stocks,” including Amazon.com and Microsoft.

The vehicle was intended to diversify SoftBank’s liquid assets, the investments in equity derivatives led to it being termed the “Nasdaq whale” due to its bets that were said to have roiled the market. Executives later said the bets didn’t even amount to being a “dolphin.”