Masayoshi Son

Rule Changes

Pursuing a physical-AI strategy; robotics deal blocked in China

ABB builds more than 90% of the robots it sells in China inside China, at a factory in Shanghai's Pudong district. On November 4, the country's foreign-investment security review told SoftBank it could not buy the business that runs it.

Updated 4 days ago

Money Moves

Reported participant in OpenAI's round

The Financial Times reported on November 3 that OpenAI is seeking up to $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, about a third less than the $30 billion it first pitched. The round is still open, with roughly $11 billion in commitments, and the figures could change.

Updated Nov 1

Money Moves

Largest single investor in OpenAI with at least $60 billion committed

In November 2025, Sam Altman told the world OpenAI had $1.4 trillion in data center commitments. Now the company is telling investors the real number is $600 billion — and that it would rather rent computing power than build its own facilities. The retreat, disclosed to investors in February 2026 and detailed publicly on March 22, marks the sharpest pivot in the short history of the artificial intelligence spending boom.

Updated Oct 29

Money Moves

Completed SoftBank's $64.6 billion OpenAI purchase on October 1, 2026, with the bridge loan behind it repaid

SoftBank finished paying for its OpenAI stake on October 1, sending the last $10 billion tranche for a total of $64.6 billion and about 13% of the company. It raised the cash in September with an $11.1 billion bond sale and an $11.9 billion loan, then retired the $40 billion bridge facility it had used to buy the shares.

Updated Oct 23

Money Moves

As of October 2026: Steering record retail borrowing and a $64.6 billion OpenAI investment

SoftBank Group priced a ¥1 trillion retail bond on September 4, the largest ever sold in Japan, at a 4.75% coupon. On September 24 it followed with $10 billion of dollar notes and €1 billion of euro notes, a record junk-bond sale, to fund the final $10 billion tranche of its $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI.

Updated Oct 6

Money Moves

As of August 2026: Backing developer and power buildout

Nvidia sells OpenAI its chips. It has also agreed to guarantee up to $105 billion of OpenAI's rent and power bills for a huge new data center in rural Ohio, according to a securities filing made public August 17.

Updated Aug 18

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Controls roughly 90% of Arm; primary financial beneficiary of the pivot

For 35 years, Arm Holdings sold blueprints, not chips. On May 6, 2026, Arm formalized a different future: a $15 billion direct chip-sales business by fiscal 2031, anchored by an in-house data center processor called the Arm AGI CPU.

Updated May 31

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Actively monetizing SoftBank portfolio assets to fund AI investments

PayPay, the mobile wallet used by three out of four smartphone owners in Japan, began trading on the Nasdaq on March 12 after raising $880 million in its initial public offering. The company sold roughly 55 million American Depositary Shares at $16 each, below its marketed range of $17 to $20, valuing the business at approximately $10.7 billion. It is the largest stock offering by a Japanese company on a U.S. exchange in over a decade.

Updated May 30

Money Moves

As of May 2026: SoftBank posted surprise quarterly profit in May 2026 on $45B in OpenAI valuation gains; $40B bridge loan fully syndicated to 8+ banks

After the $122 billion round closed at the end of March, OpenAI ended its Azure cloud exclusivity and capped Microsoft's revenue share at $38 billion through 2030. On May 18, a jury dismissed Elon Musk's suit seeking $134 billion and the reversal of OpenAI's for-profit structure.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Controls Arm through SoftBank's roughly 90% stake

Arm Holdings designs the chip architecture found in roughly 99% of smartphones and a growing share of data-center processors. On May 6 it reported record quarterly results. Five days later, Bloomberg revealed the Federal Trade Commission had opened an antitrust probe into how the company distributes those designs.

Updated May 20

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Leading SoftBank's pivot to AI infrastructure ownership while racing to meet $22.5B year-end Stargate funding deadline

SoftBank just agreed to pay $4 billion for DigitalBridge, the alternative asset manager that controls $108 billion in data centers, cell towers, and fiber networks across three continents. It's the latest—and clearest—signal that Masayoshi Son is betting SoftBank's future on owning the physical infrastructure that powers AI, not just the software running on top of it. The timing is no coincidence: SoftBank is racing to secure $22.5 billion by year-end 2025 to meet its Stargate funding commitment to OpenAI.

Updated May 16