Financial Times: SoftBank's bet on OpenAI shows its cost, with stock price nearly halved in four months

SoftBank's stock price plummeted 9.8% on Monday, more than double the decline of the Japanese market, triggered by the Financial Times indicating that OpenAI and Oracle have abandoned plans to expand the Stargate data center in Texas. Over the past four months, SoftBank's stock price has nearly halved, as market concerns about its deep bet on OpenAI continue to escalate.

Last month, SoftBank agreed to invest $30 billion in OpenAI's latest funding round of $110 billion, bringing its total investment to $64.6 billion, with a stake of about 13%. The rating agency S&P downgraded SoftBank's already junk-rated outlook to negative this month, citing liquidity concerns and weak credit quality for OpenAI. Currently, more than half of SoftBank's assets are non-listed illiquid assets, and it is seeking transitional loans to cover the investment gap.

Analysts point out that SoftBank is one of the most direct channels for ordinary investors to bet on OpenAI, but once market confidence in Masayoshi Son's macro themes wavers, SoftBank often bears the brunt.