SoftBank Group recently took out a $40 billion bridge loan from a collection of big name financial institutions. In part this move was calculated to cover an additional investment in OpenAI that the Japanese company committed to in February 2026.
The company’s latest investment in the ChatGPT maker forms part of OpenAI’s $110 billion funding round announced last month, which also attracted $30 billion from Nvidia and $50 billion from Amazon.
SoftBank’s contribution will come from its Vision Fund 2. According to a statement made in February, the additional cash will take the company’s cumulative investment in OpenAI to $64.6 billion, which it equated to a stake of around 13 per cent.
Aside from funding the OpenAI stake increase, the company plans to use the loan facility for general corporate purposes.
Lenders for the bridge facility agreement are JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and MUFG Bank. It has a maturity date of 25 March 2027.
SoftBank expects to pay the money back in stages over the next year by “utilisation of existing assets” and other financial measures, it explained in a statement.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: OpenAI & SoftBank
