SoftBank sold $5.8B Nvidia stake to fund up to $34.7B OpenAI push, Son says he ’cried’ selling shares
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said he reluctantly sold the company’s entire $5.8 billion Nvidia stake in October to raise cash for an aggressive AI investment drive centered on OpenAI. Speaking at a Tokyo forum, Son said he “was crying to sell Nvidia shares” but needed funds to support large data-centre builds and a planned investment program. SoftBank has committed to lead a funding round for OpenAI that could bring its total exposure to around $34.7 billion by year-end, following earlier commitments that valued OpenAI at up to $300–500 billion in recent months. The Nvidia sale (32.1 million shares) helped produce a record quarterly profit—SoftBank reported ¥2.5 trillion (~$16.6 billion) in Q2, boosted by paper gains on OpenAI. To fund the OpenAI plan, SoftBank has also sold T-Mobile shares (~$9.17 billion), issued bonds, taken bridge loans and expanded margin financing secured by Arm stock. Finance chief Yoshimitsu Goto framed the Nvidia exit as routine portfolio rebalancing, not a comment on Nvidia’s prospects. Son dismissed AI‑bubble warnings as uninformed, arguing large upfront spending will pay off if AI captures a meaningful share of global economic output. Key facts: $5.8B Nvidia sale (32.1M shares), record Q2 profit ¥2.5T (~$16.6B), planned OpenAI exposure ~$34.7B by December, prior T-Mobile sales ~$9.17B, expanded margin loan secured by Arm. Primary keywords: SoftBank, Nvidia sale, OpenAI investment, Masayoshi Son.
Neutral
The news is neutral for crypto markets. It concerns SoftBank reallocating capital from Nvidia and other assets to a major private AI investment (OpenAI). Direct crypto exposure is minimal: the story affects equities and private AI valuations more than cryptocurrencies. Short-term market effects could include increased risk sentiment toward tech and AI stocks and possible portfolio rotations (selling liquid equities to fund private deals), which might cause temporary volatility in broader risk assets including crypto. However, there is no direct link to on‑chain activity, token fundamentals, or crypto regulation that would materially move crypto prices. Long-term, if AI investments accelerate broader institutional risk appetite and technology adoption, that could indirectly benefit blockchain and crypto projects tied to AI infrastructure, tokenized data markets, or AI-driven DeFi tooling—supporting a modest positive tailwind. Similar past events: large corporate reallocations (e.g., major fund sells to fund private deals) often produce short-lived market ripples but limited sustained crypto impact unless the buyer/seller are major crypto holders. Therefore classify impact as neutral.