Problem #1: Uber is already a public company and borrowing against owned stock in the company (as OP says Softbank is doing) isn't newsworthy. Article says $4bn from "Uber and two other SV groups". Even if we assume the entire $4bn is borrowed from Uber holdings, that's only 10% market cap of Uber.
Problem #2: Morgan Stanley shorting Uber for its IPO is more FUD. This is routine in the investment banking world. Underwriter knows they will have to do this to provide liquidity. Haven't seen a popular IPO in the last decade where the underwriter doesn't hedge.
Problem #3: Softbank having a large corporate debt load isn't that big of a deal since interest rates are so low (sometimes negative) in Japan. You're going to PAY me millions to borrow billions? Yes, I'll take that deal every day of the week. SoftBank makes enough in revenue to more than make up for their debt load.
Problem #4: I think everybody and their dog knows Uber, Lyft, WeWork, etc. are all overvalued and will struggle to find a path to profitability in the near term. However, we could still see a 30-50% drop in public valuations on those companies. But they make up a very tiny slicer of the overall venture capital in tech right now. The largest companies are tech and they're making money hand-over-fist. Microsoft is at a trillion dollar valuation but they make $35bn a year in profits and still have $130bn in cash in the bank. It's not systemic risk as in the GFC of 2008.
TLDR: SoftBank is starting to unwind their positions and you may see a dip in the valuations for Uber, Lyft, WeWork, Tesla, and other non-profitable tech companies.
Problem #2: Morgan Stanley shorting Uber for its IPO is more FUD. This is routine in the investment banking world. Underwriter knows they will have to do this to provide liquidity. Haven't seen a popular IPO in the last decade where the underwriter doesn't hedge.
Problem #3: Softbank having a large corporate debt load isn't that big of a deal since interest rates are so low (sometimes negative) in Japan. You're going to PAY me millions to borrow billions? Yes, I'll take that deal every day of the week. SoftBank makes enough in revenue to more than make up for their debt load.
Problem #4: I think everybody and their dog knows Uber, Lyft, WeWork, etc. are all overvalued and will struggle to find a path to profitability in the near term. However, we could still see a 30-50% drop in public valuations on those companies. But they make up a very tiny slicer of the overall venture capital in tech right now. The largest companies are tech and they're making money hand-over-fist. Microsoft is at a trillion dollar valuation but they make $35bn a year in profits and still have $130bn in cash in the bank. It's not systemic risk as in the GFC of 2008.
TLDR: SoftBank is starting to unwind their positions and you may see a dip in the valuations for Uber, Lyft, WeWork, Tesla, and other non-profitable tech companies.