SoftBank Group has finished deploying its $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI by transferring the third and concluding $10 billion instalment on 1 October, according to Japan Standard Time. The payment came through the group's Vision Fund 2, as announced on Thursday.
This latest transfer brings SoftBank's cumulative investment in the artificial intelligence company to $64.6 billion, representing approximately 13% ownership. The group had committed to the $30 billion investment in late February, structuring it as three equal payments scheduled for 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
The funding round in which SoftBank participated valued OpenAI at $852 billion and totalled $122 billion overall. Amazon pledged up to $50 billion to the round, while both Nvidia and SoftBank each committed $30 billion.
To finance the final instalment, SoftBank drew on proceeds from a foreign-currency bond offering announced on 24 September. The bond sale generated $11.1 billion and represented the world's largest high-yield corporate bond issuance, according to Reuters.
Separately, SoftBank has retired the $40 billion bridge loan it arranged with banks in March to support the investment. The company had drawn $30 billion from this facility and repaid $25.9 billion ahead of schedule in September. On 30 September, SoftBank also cancelled the remaining $10 billion that had never been accessed, meaning the entire bridge loan has now been settled with no further amounts available for withdrawal.
Prior to this latest commitment, SoftBank had already channelled $34.6 billion into OpenAI via Vision Fund 2 beginning in September 2024. The new $30 billion investment positions the group, under the leadership of founder Masayoshi Son, as one of OpenAI's principal investors.
Source: The Next Web
