The SoftBank Vision Fund’s self-driving car deal with General Motors is more than a way to hedge its many bets. The huge Japanese investment outfit will sink $2.25 billion into the U.S. carmaker’s autonomous-vehicle unit. The risk may not be spreading its holdings too widely, but doing it too early. The Vision fund has certainly been spraying its nearly $100 billion of cash around. Earlier this year, it took a 15 percent stake in ride-hailing firm Uber, which is also developing self-driving vehicles. An investment in chip firm Nvidia is also a play on AV technology, as that company is

Uber’s early backers are on a collision course with their own greed. Japan’s SoftBank and allied investors want to buy roughly one-sixth of the bumptious ride-hailing firm. Existing owners can sell at a $48 billion valuation, or about 30 percent below the last one. Even with a markdown, they could make many times their money. The promise of more, however risky, will cloud the thinking. Consider just one of the many rounds of funds raised under now-deposed co-founder Travis Kalanick. A so-called Series B investment in 2011 judged Uber to be worth $300 million before an injection of $37 million of

Can you have vision without clarity? When it comes to SoftBank boss Masayoshi Son, it seems the answer is yes. The Japanese maverick has unveiled the first close of his $100 billion technology fund, rustling up $93 billion in seven months: an unprecedented sum, raised in a very short space of time. If he can deploy that to find more gems like Alibaba, his most successful investment, this may turn into a bonanza for SoftBank investors. But for now he is keeping them in the dark on crucial details. The Vision Fund is a juggernaut backed by Saudi and Emirati