SoftBank Launches $11 Billion Bond Sale to Fund Its Next OpenAI Payment
SoftBank is replacing bridge financing with junk-rated bonds just as OpenAI's IPO timeline slips, and Thursday's pricing will show how much investors trust the trade.
SoftBank Group launched a two-currency bond sale on Monday, offering $10 billion of dollar notes and €1 billion of euro notes, according to a term sheet Reuters reviewed.
Citigroup and JPMorgan are the lead bookrunners, and the money is aimed at OpenAI, where SoftBank has another large payment due within ten days. Reuters could not reach the company for comment because Monday was a holiday in Japan.
From Bridge Loan to Bond Market
The dollar bonds are split across 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5-year payoff windows, with euro options spanning 4 and 6 years.
Per Reuters, the capital will fuel SoftBank’s $10 billion third cash drop into the ChatGPT maker, leaving an extra cushion for operational runway. Final pricing locks in September 24 ahead of a September 29 payout.
Quartz highlights this as the biggest non-tech debt raise from Asia-Pacific on record.
But the context here is crucial: S&P tags SoftBank at BB+, putting the Mayaoshi-Son-led group just one step below top-tier credit, not in financial danger.
Tracking the money gets a little tricky here. Paperwork shows a $10 billion setup, but Bloomberg reported SoftBank took a $40 billion credit line in March and paid back $25.9 billion. It is unclear if this $10 billion is a new loan or part of that original deal.
A Familiar Tension: Borrowing Ahead of an Exit
SoftBank has committed close to $65 billion to OpenAI for a stake of about 13%, largely with borrowed money.
According to Bloomberg, the company backed this play by expanding a loan tied to its Arm stock to $25 billion, boosting a bank credit line to $6.5 billion, and issuing almost $15 billion in high-risk bonds this year.
This makes SoftBank 2026’s biggest junk-rated borrower, a sharp contrast to Nvidia, which cut its OpenAI data-center backstop to under $120 billion while putting $1.5 billion into SoftBank’s SB Energy.
The timing creates serious pressure. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has already said that the AI lab will not launch an IPO this year, and it brought SoftBank’s stock down nearly 11% in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Wall Street is nervous: the cost to insure SoftBank against default hit its highest level since 2023, while its bond interest rates reportedly jumped from 6.7% in January to 8.2%, making new borrowing far more expensive.
What This Bond Sale Actually Signals
The real issue isn’t the deal’s size, but the timing mismatch: SoftBank is taking on debt due in 3.5 to 7.5 years to hold an unlisted stock it can’t sell anytime soon, especially with OpenAI ruling out a 2026 IPO, even as rival Anthropic targets a November debut.
If interest rates hit 8.2%, SoftBank will owe roughly $800 million a year in pure cash interest on this $10 billion loan alone, while its OpenAI profits remain strictly on paper until a sale or listing.
Investors will likely buy the bonds thanks to the AI hype, but the real test is whether this massive $65 billion bet forces SoftBank to break its own safety limits for cash reserves and borrowing.
Source: SoftBank launches $11 billion bonds to fund OpenAI investment
