SoftBank Group Shares Surge Further

By Kosaku Narioka

SoftBank Group shares rose sharply, adding to the previous day's jump following news that OpenAI, one of its biggest investments, is preparing to file for an initial public offering soon.

Shares were recently 11% higher at 6,704 yen, equivalent to $42.17, on Friday, after rising 20% to their limit high on Thursday. The stock is now just shy of the Y6,828.8 record close marked in October.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that bankers have been helping the ChatGPT maker on a draft IPO prospectus it plans to file confidentially with regulators, possibly as early as Friday.

OpenAI is a key bet for SoftBank Group. Its investment in the artificial-intelligence company made up about a quarter of its $300 billion equity portfolio value, second only to its stake in British chip-design unit Arm Holdings, as of the end of March.

The Japanese technology investment company in February agreed to invest an additional $30 billion in the ChatGPT maker in phases this year as part of OpenAI's recent funding round. That would bring SoftBank's total investment in the artificial-intelligence company to $64.6 billion, a stake of about 13%, the Japanese company has said.

The Tokyo-based company recorded a gain of $25 billion on its stake in the ChatGPT maker in the three months ended March.

The stock has been volatile as investors have turned to SoftBank, one of the few publicly traded stocks available with a large exposure to the ChatGPT maker, to bet on potential winners in the AI race.

Shares had fallen earlier this year as OpenAI rival Anthropic emerged as a key AI provider for businesses, thanks in part to the success of its coding and AI agent products.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 21, 2026 23:44 ET (03:44 GMT)