SoftBank swings to profit on valuation boost from OpenAI bet

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (left) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attend an event in Tokyo in February 2025. SoftBank's investment gain on OpenAI stood at an estimated $19.8 billion as of December. SoftBank Group sprang back to a quarterly profit after investment gains from OpenAI neared $20 billion, a promising start for one of CEO Masayoshi Son's signature gambles alongside ByteDance and Alibaba Group Holding. The Tokyo-based company has invested about $34.6 billion in OpenAI, accumulating an 11% stake as of December, and has been in talks to invest as much as $30 billion more in a round that would value the startup at about $750 billion to $830 billion. As of December, SoftBank's investment gain on OpenAI stood at $19.8 billion, the company said Thursday.