SoftBank Group has significantly reduced its planned margin loan backed by OpenAI shares from approximately $10 billion to around $6 billion after facing pushback from lenders. According to reports from Bloomberg, Reuters, and other outlets, the Japanese conglomerate and its arranging banks have floated a reduced target of 'as low as $6 billion' in recent discussions with prospective lenders, representing a 40% cut from the original size. The two-year loan, extendable by one year, was designed to fuel SoftBank's AI investments without selling down its OpenAI equity stake.
Banks and private credit funds have raised significant concerns about valuing OpenAI, an unlisted AI company, and the structure of the margin loan deal. As reported by Bloomberg, the initial pitch had investors concerned about the difficulty of reaching a valuation for an unlisted company like ChatGPT maker OpenAI. According to the Economic Times, some creditors expressed concerns over how to value OpenAI, a privately held company, which has missed some internal sales and user milestones in recent quarters. A separate breakdown on Chinese platform Futu noted that the crux of the issue lies in lenders' inability to determine a reasonable valuation, calling the loan talks a major setback for SoftBank's AI leverage strategy.
The margin loan reduction comes amid SoftBank's already substantial AI financing commitments. In March, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank had secured a $40 billion bridge loan to fund its OpenAI investment and general corporate needs, backed by a syndicate of global banks including HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Intesa Sanpaolo, each asked to commit around $5 billion. As reported by Reuters, SoftBank is pursuing a loan of as much as $40 billion to support its AI bet. According to TechFundingNews, the $10 billion margin loan was just one part of SoftBank's larger AI financing plan, which reportedly includes commitments of more than $60 billion to OpenAI and related ventures through Vision Fund 2 and other facilities.
The scaled-back margin loan does not end SoftBank's AI financing strategy but signals that creditor appetite for concentrated private-equity collateral risk is not unlimited. As Bloomberg noted, the OpenAI exposure is already one of the biggest tests yet of creditor sentiment toward the Japanese conglomerate's debt-fueled push further into artificial intelligence. The margin loan structure would have allowed SoftBank to raise cash for AI investments while preserving upside if OpenAI's valuation continues to rise, potentially funding infrastructure projects like the 'Stargate' data-center initiative.
