SoftBank says it made $4.2 billion from its OpenAI investment in the last quarter

By Steve Goldstein

SoftBank recorded a $4.2 billion gain on its investment in OpenAI last quarter.

SoftBank, the Japanese tech investor that is aggressively pursuing what it calls "artificial super intelligence," said on Thursday it recorded a $4.2 billion gain in the last quarter on its 11% stake in OpenAI.

The OpenAI valuation surge is a bit circular, as SoftBank itself participated in the October secondary share sale of $6.6 billion where the ChatGPT maker received a $500 billion valuation.

SoftBank (JP:9984) now says it's made $19.8 billion from its investment in OpenAI.

SoftBank says it closed the fiscal third quarter worth 30.9 trillion yen, or $197.6 billion, and says it's now worth 33.1 billion yen as of Wednesday's close.

That implies the stock trades at a 19% discount to net asset value.

Its holdings in ARM (ARM), the microchip designer, account for $12 billion of its valuation. Others in its "late-stage" portfolio include TikTok owner ByteDance, the sports merchandise company Fanatics, and fintech Revolut.

SoftBank is generally considered the purest play on OpenAI, as the value of Microsoft's (MSFT) 27% stake in OpenAI is overshadowed by the software giant's other lines of business.

-Steve Goldstein

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02-12-26 0419ET