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SoftBank Profit Soars on OpenAI Gains as Debt Load Rises

The results underscore SoftBank's growing reliance on OpenAI.

Overview

  • SoftBank, which reported results Wednesday, said net profit for the January–March quarter jumped to ¥1.83 trillion ($11.6 billion) and full-year profit rose to ¥5 trillion, driven by gains tied to OpenAI.
  • The company marked its OpenAI stake at $79.6 billion as of March 31 after roughly $45 billion in valuation gains during the fiscal year on a cumulative investment cost of $34.6 billion.
  • Management reaffirmed plans to deploy about $30 billion more into OpenAI during 2026 through the Vision Fund, with the April tranche executed and a targeted ownership near 13%.
  • To fund the commitments, SoftBank drew $20 billion from a $40 billion bridge loan in April with ¥2.5 billion already repaid and raised cash by selling shares in T-Mobile and Nvidia.
  • S&P shifted SoftBank’s outlook to negative in March due to rising debt and concentrated exposure to a private, hard-to-price asset, and lenders have scaled back a proposed margin loan tied to OpenAI shares.