SoftBank Posts $46 Billion Vision Fund Gain Driven by OpenAI Bet

SoftBank recorded a yearly gain of $46 billion at its Vision Fund, driven largely by the surging valuation of its investment in OpenAI, the Japanese conglomerate reported on Wednesday.

The company has poured more than $30 billion into OpenAI to date, with investment gains in the AI lab totaling $45 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2026.

In the three months ending March 31 alone, the Vision Fund posted a gain of roughly $20 billion — nearly all attributable to OpenAI — even as SoftBank recorded losses on other portfolio holdings including Coupang, DiDi Global, and Klarna.

SoftBank has committed to invest more than $60 billion in OpenAI in total, which would give it approximately 13% ownership of the company, the company said in February. In March, OpenAI closed a funding round co-led by SoftBank that valued the AI lab at $852 billion.

The concentration of OpenAI in SoftBank's portfolio has prompted concern from credit analysts. In March, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on SoftBank from "stable" to "negative," citing deterioration in "asset liquidity and quality of its portfolio, and its financial capacity" due to the company's deepening commitment to OpenAI.

S&P added that SoftBank could "limit negative financial impacts" by divesting some assets — a move the company has already been making. SoftBank has been selling down positions in T-Mobile and Nvidia to help fund its OpenAI investment, earning 218.1 billion Japanese yen ($1.4 billion) from those sales and related investments during the fiscal year.

Excluding the Vision Fund, and after stripping out currency effects and expenses, SoftBank posted an investment income loss of 472.1 billion yen for the year.

On the earnings call, CFO Yoshimitsu Goto underscored the company's financial discipline, pointing to a 3.5 trillion yen cash position that he said covers more than two years' worth of bond redemptions.

For the full fiscal year, the SoftBank group reported a net profit of 5 trillion yen, aided primarily by the Vision Fund and its telecommunications division.

The results underscore how thoroughly SoftBank's financial performance has become intertwined with OpenAI's trajectory, even as rivals including Google and Anthropic continue to press against the AI lab in an intensifying competitive landscape.

Whether SoftBank can manage the debt load that comes with its OpenAI concentration — while continuing to chase additional AI and chip investments — remains the central question heading into the next fiscal year.

Disclaimer