SoftBank reported a significant yearly gain of $46 billion at its Vision Fund, primarily attributed to its substantial investment in OpenAI, which has exceeded $30 billion. This investment has yielded gains of approximately $45 billion for the year ending in March.
In the last quarter of this period, the Vision Fund experienced a gain of around $20 billion, largely driven by OpenAI, despite losses from other investments such as Coupang, DiDi Global, and Klarna. SoftBank aims to capitalize on the artificial intelligence sector, with OpenAI at the forefront of its strategy.
The company has pledged over $60 billion to OpenAI, which would secure it about 13% ownership, with more than $30 billion already invested. In March, OpenAI completed a funding round co-led by SoftBank, valuing the AI company at $852 billion, amidst fierce competition from firms like Google and Anthropic.
However, the heavy concentration of OpenAI in SoftBank's portfolio has raised concerns regarding its debt levels. Consequently, S&P Global Ratings downgraded SoftBank's outlook from "stable" to "negative," citing potential deterioration in asset liquidity and portfolio quality due to the large investment in OpenAI.
To mitigate financial risks, SoftBank has been divesting stakes in companies such as T-Mobile and Nvidia, generating 218.1 billion Japanese yen ($1.4 billion) from these sales and other investments. Despite this, SoftBank reported an investment income loss of 472.1 billion yen when excluding the Vision Fund.
Overall, the SoftBank group achieved a net profit of 5 trillion yen for the year, largely supported by the Vision Fund and its telecommunications operations