Overview
- SoftBank reported ¥248.6 billion ($1.62 billion) in October–December net profit, its fourth consecutive profitable quarter.
- The company has invested more than $30 billion for roughly an 11% stake in OpenAI and recorded total OpenAI-related investment gains of $19.8 billion at December-end.
- To fund its AI push, SoftBank exited Nvidia, sold about $12.7 billion of T-Mobile shares, lifted an Arm-backed margin loan to $20 billion, and increased borrowings against SoftBank Corp. shares to ¥1.2 trillion.
- Reports say SoftBank is in talks about committing up to roughly $30 billion more to OpenAI as the startup explores a much larger round reported at up to about $100 billion and near-$830–$850 billion valuations; SoftBank says no decision has been made.
- Analysts note SoftBank’s heavy concentration in OpenAI makes the group a de facto public proxy for the private AI firm, even as it expands into AI infrastructure with deals such as Ampere, ABB’s robotics unit and DigitalBridge.