Twenty Banks Back SoftBank's $11.87 Billion OpenAI Loan

Twenty Banks Back SoftBank's $11.87 Billion OpenAI Loan

The loan, which Bloomberg says drew commitments from around 20 banks and beat the original $10 billion target, was secured the same week SoftBank shares fell as much as 13% — and just before the company is due to repay $25.9 billion on an earlier OpenAI loan on September 15.

SoftBank Group has secured a two-year loan of $11.87 billion to finance its investment in OpenAI, according to Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The facility, locked in during the week before the September 14 report, has commitments from around 20 banks — well above the company's original $10 billion target (The Japan Times, eae35f56).

A debt stack built around one bet

The loan is one piece of a much larger financing plan. SoftBank, founded and led by Masayoshi Son, is set to have invested nearly $65 billion in OpenAI by October, and has already raised roughly $37 billion this year through foreign and domestic bond issuances and loans, including the latest facility, according to Bloomberg-compiled data (eae35f56).

It also connects to an imminent payment: the company has announced it will repay the $25.9 billion it owes on an earlier $40 billion loan that financed the OpenAI investment, due September 15, according to a SoftBank statement (eae35f56). What the new loan will be used for, however, has not been disclosed, and the sources say nothing about how the two loans relate.

More pieces may follow. Bloomberg reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter, that SoftBank is considering a high-risk bond sale of between $10 billion and $20 billion, with investor meetings in New York this week — in addition to a $10 billion margin loan secured against the company's OpenAI stake (eae35f56). These items remain provisional and have not been confirmed by the company.

The turmoil that hit the same week

The timing is notable. SoftBank shares fell as much as 13% on Monday, September 14, the steepest drop since July 17 (eae35f56).

The same week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an interview with Fortune that the company will not go public this year while it works on safety-related concerns (eae35f56).

It is worth emphasizing what the sources do not say: there is no documentation suggesting the loan was a reaction to the share fall or to the IPO being postponed. The timelines coincide, but a causal connection has not been established (eae35f56).

Why it matters

The decision to secure financing of this magnitude — a loan that beat the original $10 billion target — illustrates two things at once. The banks appear willing to lend large sums against a bet on AI, even though the Bloomberg report explicitly notes concerns about rising credit risk in the sector (eae35f56). At the same time, the financing structure shows that Son and SoftBank are making extensive use of debt — including pledging the OpenAI stake itself, if the margin loan proceeds — to fund the bet.

Sourcing caveats

All concrete figures about the loan itself come from Bloomberg reporting based on anonymous sources who were not authorized to speak publicly; the bank list, pricing, and use of proceeds have not been disclosed, and SoftBank declined to comment (eae35f56). The $25.9 billion repayment plan, by contrast, is confirmed through an official SoftBank statement, and the market data on the share fall is publicly available. The potential bond sale and margin loan remain unresolved until the company itself confirms them.