SoftBank posts $12B profit as OpenAI investment soars

SoftBank Group reported a net profit of 1.9 trillion yen ($12.05 billion) for the January-March quarter, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of profitability as its massive investment in OpenAI continues to generate substantial returns. The Vision Fund unit, which holds SoftBank's stake in the ChatGPT developer, registered an investment gain of 3.1 trillion yen over the quarter, with nearly all of that gain driven by OpenAI's rising valuation across multiple funding rounds. The Japanese technology investor has committed more than $64.4 billion to OpenAI for an approximately 13% stake, including $30 billion pledged during 2026. In March, OpenAI closed a funding round co-led by SoftBank that valued the AI lab at $852 billion. Over the full fiscal year ended March, SoftBank's Vision Fund recorded gains of $46 billion, with investment gains in OpenAI totaling $45 billion. CEO Masayoshi Son has positioned the company at the center of the artificial intelligence boom, though the heavy concentration of OpenAI in its portfolio has raised concerns about SoftBank's debt load. In March, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook for SoftBank from "stable" to "negative," citing concerns that the company's "asset liquidity and quality of its portfolio, and its financial capacity are likely to deteriorate" due to additional massive investments in OpenAI. The ratings agency suggested SoftBank could "limit negative financial impacts" by selling assets. Accordingly, SoftBank has been divesting stakes in holdings such as T-Mobile and Nvidia, while also issuing bonds and taking out loans backed by its chip designer Arm and domestic telecommunications arm SoftBank Corp.