SoftBank’s second-quarter net profit more than doubled to ¥2.5 trillion, or $16.6 billion.
This was well above the ¥207 billion consensus and driven by a ¥3.5 trillion Vision Fund gain, including ¥2.16 trillion from its OpenAI holding.
That compares with ¥1.18 trillion a year earlier. The print rides a rally in AI-linked assets, yet funding risks are rising.
SoftBank is leaning in. It led a $40 billion OpenAI round in March at a $300 billion valuation and, in October, joined a $6.6 billion secondary, implying $500 billion.
To finance its push, it sold $5.83 billion of Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, ETR:NVD) stock, issued bonds worth ¥620 billion, $2.2 billion and €1.7 billion, and arranged bridge loans of US$8.5 billion for OpenAI and US$6.5 billion for Ampere (undrawn).
Founder Masayoshi Son’s record is a mix of big wins and misfires. With AI capex accelerating, the upside is clear, but an overbuild would pressure returns.