TLDR
- SoftBank Group reported record Q3 profit of $1.6 billion driven by a $2.4 billion gain on its OpenAI investment
- The company has invested over $30 billion in OpenAI, securing an 11% stake in the ChatGPT maker
- SoftBank sold its entire Nvidia stake for $5.8 billion and part of its T-Mobile position for $12.7 billion to fund OpenAI investments
- The conglomerate’s loan-to-value ratio increased to 20.6% from 16.5% as it took on more debt to finance AI bets
- SoftBank stock jumped 2.4% on the Tokyo exchange following the earnings release
SoftBank Group posted record quarterly profit for the three months ending December 31, 2025. The Japanese conglomerate reported net income of $1.6 billion, or 248.6 billion yen.
The results marked a sharp turnaround from the 369 billion yen loss reported in the same quarter last year. SoftBank stock climbed 2.4% on the Tokyo exchange after the announcement.
The Vision Fund recorded a $2.4 billion gain on its OpenAI investment during the quarter. This windfall drove the strong profit performance.
SoftBank has now invested more than $30 billion in the ChatGPT maker. The company holds roughly an 11% stake in OpenAI.
Founder Masayoshi Son is making an all-in bet that OpenAI will lead the race among large language model developers. Over the past nine months, SoftBank has recorded a cumulative 2.8 trillion yen gain on the AI firm.
The conglomerate anticipates a total investment gain of $19.8 billion on OpenAI at December-end. This has helped offset losses in other portfolio companies.
Aggressive Asset Sales Fund AI Push
SoftBank sold its entire Nvidia position for $5.8 billion between June and December last year. The company also offloaded part of its T-Mobile stake for $12.7 billion during the same period.
These moves drew criticism from investors who questioned the strategy. SoftBank is using proceeds to deepen its exposure to OpenAI.
The conglomerate has also turned to debt to finance its AI bets. It expanded a margin loan backed by Arm Holdings shares to $20 billion from $13.5 billion.
SoftBank raised its borrowing limit against SoftBank Corp shares to 1.2 trillion yen. That’s up from 800 billion yen previously.
The company’s loan-to-value ratio climbed to 20.6% at December-end. That compares to 16.5% three months earlier.
Rising Debt Levels Raise Questions
SoftBank’s cash position decreased to 3.8 trillion yen during the quarter. The spending spree has investors examining the impact on the company’s balance sheet.
Analysts are questioning whether SoftBank can sustain funding for the unprofitable OpenAI. The heavy exposure means SoftBank is increasingly viewed as a proxy for the U.S. AI company.
The OpenAI stake sits within Vision Fund 2. Masayoshi Son directly owns 17% of this investment vehicle.
Vision Fund faced declines in other holdings during the quarter. Investments in e-commerce platform Coupang and China’s Didi lost value.
The fund’s ByteDance stake, parent company of TikTok, also declined. These losses were more than offset by the OpenAI gains.
OpenAI is reportedly seeking another $100 billion capital injection. The company could reach a valuation of $830 billion in the new funding round.
SoftBank is expected to participate alongside Amazon and Nvidia as potential investors. Microsoft remains OpenAI’s largest stakeholder with about a 28% stake valued at $135 to $140 billion.
OpenAI is laying groundwork for an initial public offering. The listing could rank among the biggest ever.
The quarterly profit missed analyst expectations which ranged from a gain of $7.07 billion to a loss of $3.09 billion. Despite missing forecasts, the results showed SoftBank’s fourth consecutive quarterly profit.
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