SoftBank Group is in discussions to invest as much as $30 billion more in OpenAI, a sharp increase in commitment that reflects founder Masayoshi Son's ambitions to play a central role in developing artificial intelligence. The Japanese company, already one of the ChatGPT-maker's biggest backers, is in deliberations to commit more capital toward the fast-growing startup, people familiar with the matter said. The maximum amount SoftBank is considering is $30 billion, one of the people said, asking to remain anonymous to discuss private talks. They cautioned that the discussions are fluid and the amount of funding could change. SoftBank's shares rose 5.8% in Tokyo on Wednesday. Son has been unwinding positions to increase its stake in OpenAI and ready capital for sweeping investments aimed at injecting AI in all devices.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priority Asia conference in Tokyo in December. SoftBank Group has halted talks about an acquisition of U.S. data center operator Switch, a setback to founder Masayoshi Son's ambition to roll out Stargate artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter. For months, Son pursued a deal of around $50 billion for Switch, convinced that direct control of the latter's network of energy-efficient data centers would help the $500 billion Stargate push to generate computing power for partner OpenAI. But earlier this month, Son conceded that a full acquisition was off the table and scrapped a planned January announcement, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. The two sides remain in active discussions about a partial investment or a partnership, they said. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the Future Investment Initiative Institute Priority Asia conference in Tokyo on Monday. SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group, a private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers, as it seeks to take advantage of an AI-driven boom in digital infrastructure, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese conglomerate is negotiating a potential deal to buy New York-listed DigitalBridge and take it private, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. Shares of DigitalBridge have fallen 13% this year, giving the company a market value of about $1.8 billion. They rose as high as 35% on the news and were last trading at $12.63 at 10:40 a.m. in New York. SoftBank's billionaire founder Masayoshi Son is trying to capitalize on soaring demand for the computing capacity that underpins artificial intelligence applications.

A key unit of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group is offering 1 billion of dollar bonds in the unit's first US high-grade deal. SoftBank Corp.'s five- and 10-year notes are set to respectively price 0.9 and 1.10 percentage points above Treasuries, according to a person with knowledge of the deal who asked not to be identified disclosing private details. Those levels are a quarter-point less than revised price talk unveiled early Monday in New York. Each tranche will be 500 million in size, in line with company expectations last week. The money raised would go toward general corporate purposes, the person said, adding that the notes are expected to be rated BBB by S&P Global Ratings and BBB by Fitch Ratings.

SoftBank Group said Tuesday that it will receive $5.12 billion in proceeds from the initial public offering of Arm Holdings, a British chip designer under the Japanese conglomerate, by the end of September. Arm, whose chips power most of the world's smartphones, debuted on the U.S. Nasdaq stock exchange last Thursday in the largest U.S. IPO this year, shooting its market capitalization to over $65 billion. The share sale is widely considered a success, given its first trading day's closing price of $63.59, some 25 percent above its IPO price of $51, reflecting investors' excitement over recent technological advances in artificial intelligence and Arm's increased role in supporting them. The proceeds will replenish the war chest of the Japanese investment giant, which posted massive losses in the past two years due to a fall in the value of tech start-ups it invests in amid unfavorable market conditions. Analysts said the share sale, together with the recent market recovery, could accelerate SoftBank's investment in AI-related venture firms as it has become easier for the Japanese company to raise funds using Arms shares as collateral.

US firm Nvidia is scrapping its $40 billion bid to buy UK mobile chip technology powerhouse Arm from SoftBank after persistent objections from regulators, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. Nvidia and SoftBank Group both declined to comment on the report, which cited three unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the deal. But the collapse would be no surprise, after recent speculation that the deal was on the verge of failure following pressure from US, UK and EU regulators concerned it would undermine competition. In December, US regulators filed a lawsuit seeking to block the merger, while British and European regulators had ordered probes into the deal. Japan's SoftBank Group announced in 2020 that it was selling Arm for up to $40 billion in a deal it hoped to complete in early 2022, subject to regulatory approvals. The value of the cash-and-shares deal has risen since as stock markets have rallied, with Nvidia's shares soaring.

New York – Norwegian robotics and software firm AutoStore AS said Monday that Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. will acquire 40% of its shares for $2.8 billion. SoftBank Group will buy AutoStore shares from private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners and other shareholders, aiming to close the deal later in the month, the Norwegian company said. Founded in 1996, AutoStore provides warehouse automation systems. It currently deploys more than 20,000 robots in over 600 installations across 35 countries, with its clients including German sports goods maker Puma SE and Japanese furniture and interior goods chain operator Nitori Holdings Co. "We view AutoStore as a foundational technology that enables rapid and cost-effective logistics for companies around the globe," SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said in a statement. AutoStore CEO Karl Johan Lier said in the statement his company expects SoftBank's contribution to help its growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Z Holdings Corp., operator of Yahoo Japan online services, and messaging app provider Line Corp. merged on Monday to expand their online services globally as they aim to better compete with U.S. and Chinese tech giants. With a combined user base of about 150 million in Japan, the merger of Z Holdings, a SoftBank Group Corp. subsidiary, and Line will make it one of the biggest information technology companies in the country. "We would like to launch a global smartphone app" in the future to expand online services worldwide with the help of global tech firms in which SoftBank Group's nearly $100 billion Vision Fund has invested, said Takeshi Idezawa, Z Holdings co-CEO and former Line president, at a news conference. Kentaro Kawabe, the other Z Holdings co-CEO said, "We can offer a wider range of services, such as search engine, e-commerce and online financial operations, than those provided by GAFA -- Google LLC, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com The surviving entity is Z Holdings, under which Yahoo Japan and Line operate their respective businesses.

Update Friday 11 December: As per an official Hyundai press release, the South Korean company and SoftBank Group agreed today on the main terms of the transaction. Hyundai Motor "will acquire a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics in a deal that values the mobile robot firm at $1.1 billion," read the statement. The exact financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal will bring Hyundai Motor's mobility expertise into the world of robotics technologies. This move brings Hyundai Motors one step closer to its vision of transforming into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. "We are delighted to have Boston Dynamics, a world leader in mobile robots, join the Hyundai team. This transaction will unite capabilities of Hyundai Motor Group and Boston Dynamics to spearhead innovation in future mobility," stated Euisun Chung, Chairman of Hyundai Motor.

After a tumultuous 2019 that saw the implosion of its WeWork public offering, SoftBank's Vision Fund expects up to seven companies that it has stakes in, to go public by the end of next year, its chief executive said. In tandem, it will boost its investment in artificial intelligence and technology companies that helped propel it back into the black amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "AI is going to disrupt and be a bigger disruptor than the internet, which took 20 years to disrupt a lot of industries," SoftBank Investment Advisers chief executive Rajeev Misra said in an interview with The National. "The acceleration of disruption went up dramatically due to Covid. The market share gain achieved by many of our companies that would have taken three years to happen, happened in the last nine months. Many of our companies have huge tail winds."