SoftBank cuts OpenAI margin loan target by 40% to $6 billion after lender pushback

SoftBank Slashes OpenAI-Backed Financing Plans

SoftBank Group has downsized its ambitious plans for a margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake, cutting the target from $10 billion to as low as $6 billion after encountering hesitation from creditors 1

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. The Japanese conglomerate and its bankers have spent recent weeks discussing the revised, smaller transaction with potential lenders, according to Bloomberg News 2

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. While discussions remain ongoing and the final amount could still change, the 40% reduction signals mounting lender caution about using stakes in unlisted AI companies as collateral 3

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The loan backed by OpenAI stake would carry a two-year term with an option for SoftBank to extend the tenure by an additional year. The original pitch included pricing of around 425 basis points over SOFR, which would place the borrowing rate near 7.9% at current rates 2

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. This financial strategy represents an unusual move for the company—not in scale, but in the type of collateral being used. While margin loans against publicly traded shares are standard treasury tools, those backed by privately held artificial intelligence assets are far less common and require creditors to assess whether the underlying OpenAI valuation will hold under stress.

Valuation Concerns Drive Lender Pushback

The primary concern among creditors centers on the difficulty of reaching a reliable valuation for ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which remains unlisted and lacks the transparency of public markets 1

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. Despite OpenAI's $852 billion post-money valuation struck in March's primary funding round, lenders remain cautious about valuing private AI companies as collateral 2

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. Secondary market activity suggests this caution may be warranted—reported price talk on OpenAI secondary lots since the primary close has skewed below the $852 billion mark, with sellers outnumbering buyers by roughly five to one in some recent venues 2

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The reduced loan target shows that banks want a larger safety margin before lending against SoftBank's position 4

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. Even SoftBank's original $10 billion ask was already conservative on advance rates, with terms reflecting a substantial haircut. The further downsizing to $6 billion suggests the haircut creditors are willing to apply has widened considerably, reflecting deeper skepticism about AI asset values in the current market environment.

Mounting Debt Raises Financial Capacity Questions

This margin loan attempt comes as SoftBank Group has dramatically expanded its exposure to OpenAI through increasingly leveraged means. The company first invested in OpenAI in September 2024 and later partnered with the startup on Stargate, a large-scale U.S. AI infrastructure initiative announced in January 2025 3

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. In March, SoftBank secured a $40 billion bridge loan—its largest-ever dollar-denominated borrowing—partly to fund a $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI 1

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To finance this AI boom bet, Masayoshi Son sold the entire Nvidia stake (approximately $5.83 billion) and the residual T-Mobile holding (about $12.73 billion) between June and December 2025 2

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. SoftBank's cumulative committed exposure to OpenAI will reach roughly $64.6 billion once the latest follow-on closes, giving the group around 13% of the company. Group debt now sits at roughly ¥20.45 trillion ($135 billion), and the proposed margin loan would push that figure even higher 2

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S&P lowered SoftBank's credit outlook last month, citing concerns that the scale of OpenAI exposure could impair the group's liquidity and the credit quality of its broader asset base 2

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. The credit rating agency noted in early March that the additional investment would "further reduce SoftBank Group's financial capacity" 3

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. Each new layer of debt reduces the cushion banks have if a mark-to-market shock hits the collateral, making lenders increasingly wary of extending additional credit.

What This Signals for AI Financing

The trajectory of this loan negotiation reveals how the financing world is now valuing OpenAI relative to its primary marks. Two interpretations emerge from the cuts loan target decision. The more benign reading suggests creditors are being procedurally cautious about a young collateral class and that the haircut will compress as OpenAI ages and a more public valuation tape emerges. The less favorable interpretation is that secondary-market pricing reflects reality and the primary round was already an outlier, meaning the asset base of the entire SoftBank-OpenAI thesis is worth materially less than the headline figure 2

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Neither reading can be proven today, but both will face testing when SoftBank reports earnings in early August, when OpenAI is expected to disclose updated revenue figures, and when the next secondary lot clears. Other holders of OpenAI stock, including Andreessen Horowitz and D.E. Shaw Ventures, will be watching SoftBank's process closely to assess whether similar facilities make sense for their portfolios 2

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. The outcome will provide critical signals about the true cost of borrowing against private AI equity and whether the gap between sticker valuations and what banks will actually lend against can be closed.