Shares of SoftBank Group sank roughly 9.4% to $41.05 after Bloomberg reported that the company's attempt to borrow at least $6 billion using its OpenAI stake as collateral has stalled. The talks collapsed just weeks after SoftBank had already slashed its original target from $10 billion , a sequence that signals deepening lender reluctance — not just a pricing disagreement.
• Banks Can't Figure Out What OpenAI Is Worth as Collateral A margin loan is essentially a loan secured by an investment — in this case, SoftBank's large but unlisted stake in OpenAI. Lenders grew cautious because they struggled to assign a reliable value to a private company like OpenAI, making it harder to structure the loan.
OpenAI filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO on Monday and is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on a listing as soon as this fall — which could eventually make the stake easier to price. But "eventually" doesn't solve today's funding gap.
• The Ask Got Cut, and Lenders Still Walked Away
SoftBank had secured roughly $5 billion in commitments before talks broke down, though it's unclear whether those were formal agreements or preliminary interest.
The company had already reduced its target from $10 billion after hesitation from banks, yet creditors still were not willing to move forward. That two-stage failure rattles confidence in SoftBank's ability to monetize its private AI holdings on demand.
• A $40 Billion Repayment Deadline Looms in the Background
SoftBank faces a $40 billion bridge loan repayment due in March 2027 that funded its OpenAI investments.
The company has said that borrowing would likely be repaid "through the utilisation of existing assets and other financing measures." With the margin loan stalled, the menu of those "other measures" — issuing bonds, selling stakes in publicly traded holdings like Arm or Intel — becomes the central investor question.
• Internal Doubt Adds to Market Jitters
A broader debate has intensified around SoftBank's commitments of more than $60 billion to OpenAI, especially as breakthroughs by rival Anthropic have raised doubts — and some officials within SoftBank itself had grown anxious about that commitment.
Just nine days ago, SoftBank overtook Toyota as Japan's most valuable company — a milestone that now looks fragile if financing keeps stumbling.
The stock remains up roughly 45% year-to-date, but today's drop underscores a basic reality: owning a huge piece of the AI boom is one thing; turning it into the cash needed to keep building is another.