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The story
It has been reported that SoftBank Group will issue roughly ¥1.705 trillion in new bonds to fund a further investment in OpenAI. The issuance is said to be one of the largest ever by a non-financial company in the Asia-Pacific region, even as SBG’s own credit rating already sits below investment grade (junk status) — drawing attention to a structure in which borrowed money keeps funding a still-unprofitable AI lab. On 5ch, voices worried about SoftBank’s financial health clashed with those who argue the company ‘can’t go under’ thanks to collateral from its telecom, finance, and Arm holdings, while the fact that retail investors are rushing into these high-yield bonds also became a talking point.
SoftBank Group borrows yet again, pouring roughly ¥1.705 trillion into OpenAI
SoftBank Group is issuing about ¥1.705 trillion in bonds for a fresh investment in OpenAI — potentially the largest such deal ever from a non-financial company in Asia-Pacific and Japan. But what stands out isn’t the size, it’s where the money is coming from. Loan after loan, bridge financing after bridge financing, borrowing yet again. The rating is already junk, and the investment target is an AI lab still deep in the red. It’s a picture of tossing borrowed stacks of cash into a bottomless well.
See the source for details, 9/22/2026
Source: businessinsider.jp / Original article here
What people said
Is SoftBank done for?
Government subsidies can plug holes up to ¥200 trillion, so
they've got plenty of breathing room, right? \(^o^)/
Back in the day, whenever SoftBank started wobbling,
the Bank of Japan would step right in and buy up its shares
Having the government as your patron (lit. 'Boss Hinomaru') makes you invincible
That's all part of Son Masayoshi's master plan lol (posters swap the 'Son' in his name for the kanji meaning 'loss' as a jab)
I just saw somewhere that they're carrying something like ¥40 trillion in debt
Should be fine
it's backed by Arm as collateral
even if the AI bet totally flops, they can just let go of the Arm shares
they won't even need to sell off PayPay or their telecom business in Japan
If it collapses, it'd cause trouble at the level of the global economy, so it can't be allowed to fail
Sure, but once it eventually hits its limit, nobody will be able to save it and it'll go under anyway
OpenAI's already falling apart! Don't you know…?
You could make it with a few PCs, couldn't you?
Isn't everyone just getting played, like with the 'Minna no Ooyasan' scam?
Well then go announce that and cash in, go on!
If SBG goes under, the number of Japanese people left financially ruined (lit. 'hanging themselves') could be in the tens of thousands
What actually happens if they go bankrupt
https://article-image-ix.nikkei.com/https%3A%2F%2Fimgix-proxy.n8s.jp%2FDSKKZO9038945031072025DTE000-2.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&w=400&h=400&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&bg=FFFFFF&s=ee8b8c1fcdd6233a8d75840eca8e7baa
Will the Hawks, NPB's strongest team, get sold off?
It's a bicycle (slang for a business that has to keep pedaling/borrowing just to stay upright)
As long as you don't hold it overnight, it's a fun 50/50 gamble
It's another 'Minna de Ooyasan'
Masayoshi Son announced 'I'm about to pour in even more'
What's going on here?
It's a bicycle operation — the second you stop pedaling, it's over lol
If OpenAI's valuation drops,
SoftBank Group, which holds a massive stake in OpenAI, would post a huge loss on its books
To prevent that,
by buying more OpenAI stock at an inflated valuation,
SoftBank Group's earnings turn into a profit — a massive profit, even
But in reality
OpenAI's shares are worth less than that,
and someday that gap will surface
Whoaaa
It's a hot product
Apparently a securities firm salesperson called up my parents' place
I wonder if they sold out instantly?
Actually, isn't Rakuten — which has the same main bank — in trouble too? lol
A cash-business mobile carrier doesn't go bankrupt
if it looks like it might, the government will bail it out
It's because they can't sell off Arm
that they're borrowing from everywhere
For SBG, whose whole business is basically scalping, failing to sell to NVIDIA means it's pointless now lol
Background and key points of this discussion
SoftBank Group has already issued roughly ¥8.9 trillion in domestic bonds, and this new round piles on another ¥1.705 trillion. What split opinion on the thread was how to judge this borrowing structure. On one side, an optimistic view holds that with Arm shares and the telecom/finance businesses as collateral, the company ‘can’t go under.’ On the other, some pointed out that under this accounting structure, the higher OpenAI’s valuation climbs, the more SoftBank’s own earnings swing into the black — raising concern that a gap is opening up between real-world losses and reported accounting profits. Though not covered in the main article, retail investor demand for high yields remains strong even with a junk rating, and the fact that a bond issue this large can go through securities firms partly reflects that appetite from domestic individual money looking for a place to park. Many of the excluded replies strayed from discussion of the bonds and investment structure into unsubstantiated attacks on specific politicians.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread ‘SoftBank Group Borrows Again, Pours ¥1.705 Trillion Into OpenAI — Bond Rating Already Junk.’
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