SoftBank wants Microsoft to invest in its next VisionFund, and it offered to encourage its startups to ditch Amazon's cloud for Azure

• According to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday, Japan's SoftBank is trying to convince Microsoft to invest in its second Vision Fund.
• SoftBank's second VisionFund could total $40 billion and already has commitments from Goldman Sachs and Apple, according to the report.
• The report says SoftBank offered to encourage its existing portfolio companies to use Microsoft Azure's cloud platform instead of Amazon Web Services in an effort to win over Microsoft.
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Microsoft is in talks with SoftBank about investing in the Japanese tech conglomerate's massive investment fund, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday.

The second so-called Vision Fund that SoftBank is in process of raising is likely to be around $40 billion, according to the report. SoftBank has already signed on a broad mix of investing partners to back the fund, including Apple and investment bank Goldman Sachs, the WSJ said.

Apple was already an investor in SoftBank's first $100 billion Vision Fund, which has invested indozens of tech startups in AI, ecommerce and sharing economy services.

To entice Microsoft to join its second VisionFund, SoftBank offered to persuade its 75 existing portfolio companies to move their operations from the Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure to Microsoft's Azure cloud, according to the WSJ report.

Microsoft and SoftBank did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

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The report comes as the Department of Justice is expected to approve T-Mobile's purchase of Sprint, which would offload a significant portion of SoftBank's debt in the mobile phone provider and free up cash for this second Vision Fund, according to the report.

SoftBank's first Vision Fund backed some of the biggest names in tech like recently public Uber, and Slack, and soon-to-be-public WeWork. Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son led the $100 billion fund since its launch in 2017.