The Vision Fund arm of Japanese technology group SoftBank recorded roughly $46 billion in investment gains over the 12 months through March 31, fueled almost entirely by a surging valuation on its OpenAI holdings.
The Vision Fund segment recorded income before income tax of ¥6,444.6 billion for the year, compared with a loss of ¥115.0 billion in the prior fiscal year, according to SoftBank's earnings release. The gain was concentrated in its second Vision Fund, which logged investment gains related to OpenAI of $42.1 billion. The fair value of SoftBank's total investment in OpenAI reached $79.6 billion at year-end, against a cumulative investment cost of $34.6 billion — a valuation gain of $45.0 billion recorded during the fiscal year.
For the full year, SoftBank Group posted net income of ¥5,002.3 billion, up from ¥1,153.3 billion in the prior year, the company said. Revenue rose 7.7% to ¥7,798.7 billion.
Outside of OpenAI, SoftBank's investment results were mixed. The company's holding company investment segment posted a loss of ¥472.1 billion for the year, as gains on Nvidia $NVDA and Intel $INTC were more than offset by losses on T-Mobile $TMUS and Alibaba. According to CNBC, the fourth quarter told a similar story, with OpenAI accounting for virtually the entire quarterly gain as positions including Coupang, DiDi Global, and Klarna moved against the fund.
SoftBank has committed to raising its total investment in OpenAI to $64.6 billion. In February, the company entered into a definitive agreement for a $30 billion follow-on investment through its second Vision Fund at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion, with $10 billion to be deployed in each of April, July, and October 2026. The April tranche has been executed, the company said.
To fund the expanding commitment, SoftBank arranged a $40 billion bridge loan facility in March, with $20 billion drawn as of April. The company also sold T-Mobile stock during the year, raising $16.2 billion, and monetized Nvidia holdings for $5.8 billion.
The outsized position OpenAI now represents in SoftBank's holdings has not gone unnoticed by credit analysts. Citing concerns about the debt burden that the expanding commitment entails, S&P Global $SPGI Ratings moved its outlook on SoftBank to "negative" from "stable" in March, warning that the firm's financial capacity and asset liquidity could erode as a result, according to CNBC.
On the earnings call, Goto pointed to a ¥3.5 trillion liquidity cushion that he said was large enough to satisfy bond redemption obligations stretching beyond two years. Goto told analysts that while a future divestment could not be ruled out — consistent with how the Vision Fund has handled other holdings — his current outlook was that SoftBank is "looking forward to seeing more growth from OpenAI," according to Bloomberg.
SoftBank's net asset value rose to ¥40.1 trillion as of March 31, up from ¥25.7 trillion a year earlier, and reached an all-time high of ¥47.7 trillion on a pro forma basis as of May 12, the company said.