Shares of SoftBank Group slid 7.6% to $30.25 on July 28 as investors grappled with two headline moves at once: a roughly $625 million deal to buy Japanese payments firm SP.LINKS, and fresh reminders of the sheer scale of the company's OpenAI financing — all against a backdrop of a broader tech selloff.
Buying Blackstone's Payments Firm at More Than Double the Original Price
SoftBank is closing in on SP.LINKS, a Japanese payments provider Blackstone picked up for roughly $250 million just over two years ago — meaning SoftBank is paying more than double what Blackstone spent.
Blackstone's ¥100 billion valuation target reflects confidence in Japan's digital adoption trend. But for shareholders, the question is whether SoftBank is buying real growth or buying at the top of a payments boom. Combined transactions between SP.LINKS and SoftBank's existing payments subsidiary would likely rival the industry leader , but that scale comes at a premium price during a risk-off moment.
A $40 Billion Loan to Fund an "All-In" OpenAI Bet — Due in Eight Months
SoftBank secured a $40 billion unsecured bridge loan — its largest dollar-denominated borrowing ever — maturing March 25, 2027, with $30 billion earmarked for OpenAI and the remaining $10 billion for general corporate purposes.
The deal pays about 250 basis points over the benchmark rate, translating to roughly 6.14% interest. On $40 billion, that's approximately $2.5 billion in annualized interest — a staggering cash drag. CEO Masayoshi Son has pledged to go "all in" on OpenAI, with commitments now exceeding $60 billion.
The Concentration Problem Investors Can't Ignore
Upon completion, SoftBank's cumulative OpenAI investment is expected to total $64.6 billion, representing roughly 13% ownership. That is an extraordinary concentration in a single private company — some bankers have already voiced concerns about SoftBank's exposure to OpenAI, which faces increasing competition from rivals including Anthropic.
OpenAI filed for a public listing last month and was valued at $852 billion , which could eventually offer an exit, but until then, SoftBank's balance sheet is deeply leveraged to one outcome.
A Broader Tech Rout Amplifies the Pain The selloff isn't happening in a vacuum. Global tech and AI-related stocks are under broad pressure from rising skepticism about heavy AI infrastructure spending. For a company simultaneously closing an expensive acquisition and drawing down billions in bridge financing, the timing sharpens every question about capital discipline. SFTBF has dropped 16% from its $36.00 close on July 23 in just three trading days — a pace that suggests investors want answers before they buy back in.