Global market crash: SoftBank Group shares fall most since going public in 1998

A stock rout in Japan wiped out $15 billion of SoftBank Group Corp.’s value on Monday, after the company’s biggest single-day fall since founder Masayoshi Son took the company public in 1998.

The technology giant’s stock fell 19%, extending its decline for the September quarter so far to 38%, in line to be the biggest such drop since 2001. The plunge comes as Son prepares an investment blitz in AI and semiconductor technologies. The global market rout also threatens to hurt SoftBank’s Vision Fund unit, which holds investments in hundreds of technology startups.