In this picture taken on June 16, 2020, a man walks past a SoftBank store in Tokyo. (BEHROUZ MEHRI / AFP)

TOKYO – SoftBank Group Corp booked a record $23 billion net loss in the three months to June on Monday, hammered by turmoil at its sprawling Vision Fund unit as a market sell-off upended tech stocks.

The pain in the April-June quarter comes fresh after the closely watched Vision Fund posted a record $26 billion loss in May, hit by rising interest rates and political instability that disrupted global markets.

Overall, the sliding portfolio pushed SoftBank to a 3.16 trillion yen ($23.4 billion) net loss in the latest quarter – its largest loss ever. That compared with profit of 761.5 billion yen in the same period a year earlier

SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has already pledged to tighten investing criteria and preserve cash to ride out the downturn. But the latest results could test investor willingness to stomach further big losses.

"The world is in great confusion," Son told a briefing on Monday following the release of the latest results.

Overall, the sliding portfolio pushed SoftBank to a 3.16 trillion yen ($23.4 billion) net loss in the latest quarter – its largest loss ever. That compared with profit of 761.5 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

The Vision Fund unit saw a $23.1 billion hit in value.

Listed investments that suffered a fall in value included robotics firm AutoStore Holdings Ltd and artificial intelligence firm SenseTime Group Inc. 

SoftBank said it wrote down the value of unlisted assets across its two Vision Funds by 1.14 trillion yen. Analysts have said writedowns of these private assets were unlikely to reflect the extent of current market weakness.

The second Vision Fund's stakes in 269 firms were worth $37.2 billion at end-June, compared with an acquisition cost of $48.2 billion.

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Plunging initial public offering volumes and market scepticism towards money-losing startups have squeezed an important source of capital for SoftBank, which hopes to list chip designer Arm following the collapse of a sale to Nvidia.

To raise cash, SoftBank has exited companies including ridehailer Uber Technologies and home-selling platform Opendoor Technologies, for a total gain of $5.6 billion.

SoftBank sold Uber at an average share price of $41.47, compared to the Friday closing price of $32.01.

SoftBank hasn't been the only casualty of the tech sell-off.

Hedge fund Tiger Global, which competes with "unicorn hunter" Son on deals, saw its flagship fund fall 50 percent in the first half of the year after it underestimated the impact of surging inflation on markets. 

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Berkshire Hathaway booked a $44 billion quarterly loss on its investments and derivatives, with Chief Executive Warren Buffett urging investors to ignore the fluctuations.