SoftBank Insiders Question Son's $60 Billion OpenAI Bet as Anthropic Gains Fuel Doubts
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · May 19
SoftBank Insiders Question Son's $60 Billion OpenAI Bet as Anthropic Gains Fuel Doubts
4 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · May 19
SoftBank officials have grown increasingly uneasy with the group's more than $60 billion commitment to OpenAI, fearing Masayoshi Son is taking excessive risk through his close alignment with Sam Altman.
Those concerns deepened as Anthropic's recent breakthroughs stirred fresh market doubts about OpenAI's prospects, even as the company prepares for a possible IPO as early as this year.
Executives had repeatedly asked Son what SoftBank would do if OpenAI failed, but people familiar with the discussions said he brushed off the scenario so sharply that subordinates stopped pressing the issue.
The anxiety reflects a broader worry inside SoftBank that Son's relationship with Altman is overly personal and one-sided at a moment when the AI race is becoming more competitive.
Is SoftBank’s $60 billion OpenAI bet a visionary masterstroke or the prelude to the biggest tech bubble burst in history?
With trillions invested but ROI unclear, will AI transform the economy or become a monument to corporate overspending?
SoftBank’s $64 Billion OpenAI Bet: Record Profits, Debt Risks, and the High-Stakes AI Gamble of 2026
Overview
SoftBank Group has re-emerged as a dominant force in technology investment, reporting a record net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2026. This turnaround is driven by SoftBank’s strategic and substantial investment in OpenAI, which has rapidly appreciated in value and matured into a major asset. The unprecedented scale of this bet fundamentally reshaped SoftBank’s financial outlook, highlighting the company’s foresight in backing a key player in the AI sector. As a result, SoftBank’s bold move has positioned it at the forefront of the AI revolution and transformed its market standing.