SoftBank Revives $10 Billion OpenAI-Backed Loan With a Sweetener for Lenders
The Japanese group returned to the negotiating table with a corporate guarantee, after banks balked at accepting shares in the privately held ChatGPT maker as sole collateral.
SoftBank has resumed negotiations for a $10 billion loan backed by its stake in OpenAI, reviving a financing plan central to its aggressive AI investment strategy, according to a Reuters report. The news lifted SoftBank shares in Tokyo.
Why it stalled: Earlier talks broke down because a consortium of lenders — including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Mizuho — was reluctant to accept shares in the privately held ChatGPT developer as the sole collateral.
The new sweetener: SoftBank is now offering a corporate guarantee, allowing lenders to seek repayment from the company itself if the pledged OpenAI stake proves insufficient. The financing would take the form of a margin loan with a projected two-year term and a one-year extension option.
The bigger picture: SoftBank has committed more than $60 billion to OpenAI and related infrastructure, including the Stargate data-center venture, and is increasingly leaning on debt and asset-backed financing to fund those bets. It also faces a March 2027 deadline to repay a $40 billion bridge loan tied to its OpenAI investment.
The episode is a window into how the AI buildout is straining even the deepest pockets. As valuations balloon and IPOs slip, the industry's biggest backers are engineering ever more elaborate financing to keep the capital flowing — and asking lenders to take on risk secured by stakes in companies that aren't yet public.
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