The report indicated that Son has held in-depth discussions in recent weeks with senior figures from Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that SoftBank plans to use the newly raised funds to establish an entirely new fund, through which SoftBank will directly acquire traditional or technology companies and then completely reshape their businesses using cutting-edge AI technologies.
Son's urgency in turning to Gulf sovereign wealth funds stems mainly from SoftBank approaching its limit in debt financing capacity. Just last month, in order to finance its investment in OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, SoftBank issued high-yield corporate bonds (junk bonds) worth as much as $11.1 billion, setting the highest borrowing record for any global tech company in this sector.
To date, SoftBank has poured a massive $64.6 billion into OpenAI, holding approximately 13% of its shares. However, OpenAI's announcement to delay its initial public offering (IPO) until 2027 has prevented SoftBank from realizing short-term liquidity through secondary markets, creating significant leverage pressure on its cash flow.
SoftBank Group's Japanese shares closed down 3.92% on Friday (September 9), with intraday losses at one point reaching as much as 7%. (rc)
