SoftBank shares slide after OpenAI’s $38.5B loss revealed

SoftBank Shares Drop on OpenAI Spending Concerns

SoftBank Group shares fell as much as 5% in Tokyo trading on Wednesday after reports highlighting sharp increases in OpenAI’s spending through 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 raised fresh concerns about the Japanese conglomerate’s massive bet on the artificial intelligence startup.

Shares dropped to as low as 6,730 yen before trimming losses, underperforming the broader Nikkei 225 index, which rose 0.7% on the day. The selloff was triggered by a cascade of financial disclosures about OpenAI published this week, including audited figures obtained by blogger Ed Zitron and verified by the Financial Times showing that OpenAI’s total costs and expenses reached $34 billion in 2025 against revenue of just $13.07 billion, resulting in a net loss of roughly $38.5 billion.investing

Mounting Losses at OpenAI

The leaked financials paint a stark picture of OpenAI’s cash consumption. The company’s net loss widened nearly eightfold from approximately $5 billion in 2024 to $38.5 billion in 2025. Research and development spending alone hit $19.18 billion, while sales and marketing costs ballooned to $5.73 billion.blockspace

The Information reported on Tuesday that OpenAI’s cash burn tripled year-on-year to $3.7 billion in just the first three months of 2026, suggesting the pace of spending has not slowed even as the company prepares for a potential initial public offering later this year.investing

SoftBank’s Deepening Exposure

SoftBank has committed over $60 billion to OpenAI, making it the company’s most consequential investment and the cornerstone of founder Masayoshi Son’s strategy to dominate the AI era. By February, SoftBank had invested more than $30 billion for an approximately 11% stake, and OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round in March 2026 with SoftBank among the lead investors.reuters

The company also faces a $40 billion bridge financing obligation tied to its OpenAI investments, due for repayment in March 2027, while efforts to secure a $6 billion margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake stalled earlier this month.yahoo

A Turbulent Rally

Wednesday’s decline adds to what has been a volatile stretch for a stock that has more than doubled over the past year. SoftBank overtook Toyota as Japan’s most valuable company in late May, with its market capitalization surpassing 48 trillion yen on the back of AI enthusiasm. The stock remains up more than 50% year-to-date, but has faced repeated pullbacks on concerns about the sustainability of AI spending and the path to profitability at OpenAI.japantimes

For investors, the tension is clear: SoftBank’s valuation rests heavily on OpenAI’s future, but the startup’s own numbers show it spending $1.60 for every dollar it earns.fortune