SoftBank's Son 'Cried' Over $5.8B Nvidia Sale to Fund AI Investment Spree

SoftBank's Son 'Cried' About Nvidia Stake Sale to Fund AI Bets

SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said he wouldn't have sold off Nvidia Corp. shares if his company had unlimited money to bankroll its next investments in artificial intelligence, which include a big bet on OpenAI. Son, addressing for the first time the surprise November disclosure that SoftBank had unloaded its entire stake in the world's most valuable company, also slammed talk of an AI investment bubble. The Japanese company simply needed to raise capital to fund projects including data center construction, he told a forum in Tokyo Monday.

SoftBank's Son 'was crying' about the firm's need to sell its Nvidia stake

SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son on Monday downplayed the decision to offload the conglomerate's entire Nvidia stake, saying he "was crying" over parting with the shares. Speaking at a forum in Tokyo Monday, Son addressed SoftBank's November disclosure that the firm had sold its holding in the American chip darling for $5.83 billion. According to Son, SoftBank wouldn't have made the move if it didn't need to bankroll its next artificial intelligence investments, including a big bet on OpenAI and data center projects. "I don't want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest in OpenAI and other projects, Son said during the FII Priority Asia forum. "I was crying to sell Nvidia shares." Son's comments are consistent with what analysts and other Softbank executives said in November, describing the sale as part of broader efforts to bolster SoftBank Vision Fund's AI war chest. SoftBank has doubled down on its AI plans this year with a series of projects, including work on Stargate Project data centers and the acquisition of U.S. chip designer Ampere Computing. The Japanese giant could also "potentially" increase its investment in OpenAI depending on the performance of the ChatGPT maker and the valuation of further rounds, a person familiar with the matter previously told CNBC. Earlier this year, Son said that SoftBank was "all in" on OpenAI and predicted the AI startup would one day become the most valuable company in the world. So far, that bet has reaped some dividends, with SoftBank reporting last month that its second-quarter net profit more than doubled to 2.5 trillion yen ($16.6 billion), driven by valuation gains in its OpenAI holdings. However, SoftBank's massive AI bets come amid growing fears and jitters in markets about a potential AI bubble. In his Monday talk, Son also pushed back against these concerns, arguing that those who talk about an AI bubble are "not smart enough." He predicted that "super [artificial] intelligence" and AI robots will generate at least 10% of global gross domestic product over the long term, which he said would outweigh trillions of dollars of investment into the technology.

SoftBank's Son says he cried selling Nvidia to fund AI bets

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has revealed how reluctant he was to part with the company's entire Nvidia stake, describing the sale as an emotional decision driven by the need to raise cash for a new wave of AI investments. Speaking at an investment forum in Tokyo Monday, he said: "I wish to have unlimited money. I respect Nvidia so much, I don't want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest into OpenAI, invest into our opportunities, so I was crying to sell Nvidia shares. If I had more money, of course, I wanted to keep Nvidia shares, all the time, any time." SoftBank's decision to sell its Nvidia stake for about $5.83 billion caught investors off guard last month, sparking fresh fears that AI-related stocks could be overvalued. But Son pushed back against warnings that the sector is in a bubble, saying skeptics are "not smart enough." He added that the economic impact of advanced AI systems will be large enough to justify the enormous sums now being poured into the sector, asking, "Where is the bubble?" Nonetheless, SoftBank's stock has slumped almost 40% in U.S. trading since late October as investors grow uneasy about the scale of its AI spending. Much of that spending has been funneled into ambitious hardware and infrastructure projects such as the company's "Stargate" data-center plan and its move into in-house chip design via Ampere Computing. Both demand enormous capital outlays long before any payoff materializes. Son's comments come as short-seller Jim Chanos, most famous for his prescient Enron call in the early 2000s, warned of the risk of debt defaults in the growing AI cloud computing space. "Business models like the neoclouds, a lot of the AI companies themselves ... are just loss-making enterprises right now," Chanos said in an interview with Yahoo Finance last week. "You've gotta hope that changes, because if it doesn't, there's going to be debt defaults on these things."

Masayoshi Son 'Crying' Over Nvidia Sale as SoftBank Doubles Down on A.I.

The SoftBank CEO remains unfazed by bubble fears, insisting A.I. growth will dwarf today's soaring valuations. Last month, SoftBank sold $5.8 billion worth of Nvidia shares, and CEO Masayoshi Son now says he's "crying" over the decision. "I don't want to sell a single share," he said at the FII Priority Asia forum in Tokyo today (Dec. 1). Son explained that the sale was meant to fund SoftBank's investment in OpenAI and other A.I. bets -- not because he believes Nvidia's stock has entered bubble territory. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters Son is currently Japan's second wealthiest person, with an estimated net worth of $52.8 billion. His fortune stems from founding and running SoftBank, which has increasingly shifted its focus toward A.I. initiatives and startups in recent years. Today, SoftBank's Vision Funds hold stakes in more than 400 A.I.-related companies. Major deals this year include backing U.S.-based data centers through Project Stargate, promising to funnel more than $30 billion into OpenAI by the end of the year, and acquiring Ampere, a semiconductor design company, for $6.5 billion last month. Son's optimism places him at odds with a growing group of investors worried that today's sky-high valuations for A.I. companies aren't sustainable. Nvidia shares have fluctuated in recent weeks amid concerns about a potential A.I. bubble. "People that talk about such a stupid question are not smart enough, period," said Son in response to such concerns. The billionaire argued that A.I.'s rapid growth will quickly justify the massive inflows of capital. If the technology eventually captures 10 percent of global GDP, he said, it could generate tens of trillions of dollars in just a few months. With that in mind, Son asked, "Where is the bubble?" known for his bold projections, Son predicted that A.I. could become 10,000 to 100,000 times smarter than humans in the coming decades. "Nothing is actually stopping the process to make AGI and ASI happen," said Son, referring to artificial general intelligence and artificial superintelligence. "The funding is coming, chips are coming, models are evolving -- whole world is waiting." But Son was less bullish when discussing Japan's own A.I. strategy, which he has criticized as lagging behind global rivals. "The biggest opportunity is still in the United States," he said, warning that Japan is moving too conservatively and too slowly when it comes to embracing generative A.I. "Wake up, Japan."

SoftBank's Masayashi Son 'cried' about Nvidia stake sale to fund AI bets

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son expressed regret over selling Nvidia shares, stating the capital was needed for significant AI investments, including a major bet on OpenAI. He dismissed concerns about an AI investment bubble, arguing that AI's potential to generate substantial global GDP justifies the spending. SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said he wouldn't have sold off Nvidia Corp. shares if his company had unlimited money to bankroll its next investments in artificial intelligence, which include a big bet on OpenAI. Son, addressing for the first time the surprise November disclosure that SoftBank had unloaded its entire stake in the world's most valuable company, also slammed talk of an AI investment bubble. The Japanese company simply needed to raise capital to fund projects including data center construction, he told a forum in Tokyo Monday. "I don't want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest in OpenAI" and other projects, Son said during the FII Priority Asia forum. "I was crying to sell Nvidia shares." SoftBank has doubled down on its bets on AI through a flurry of projects that include a Stargate data center with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the acquisition of US chip designer Ampere Computing LLC, and plans to invest more in OpenAI by the end of this year. People who talk about a bubble around AI investment are "not smart enough," the 68-year-old SoftBank chief executive officer said. If AI is able to earn 10% of global gross domestic product over the long term, that would more than make up for even trillions of dollars' worth of cumulative spending, he said. "Where is the bubble?" Son made his remarks at an offshoot of one of Saudi Arabia's biggest investment summits. The Tokyo forum featured appearances by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the country's finance and economy ministers, reflecting deepening ties between the kingdom and Japan. Son's first Vision Fund was set up with $45 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The PIF has invested about $11.5 billion in Japan from 2017 to 2024 and expects that total to grow to around $27 billion by the end of 2030, Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said at the same event.

SoftBank's Son 'cried' about Nvidia stake sale to fund AI bets

SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son said he wouldn't have sold off Nvidia shares if his company had unlimited money to bankroll its next investments in artificial intelligence, which include a big bet on OpenAI. Son, addressing for the first time the surprise November disclosure that SoftBank had unloaded its entire stake in the world's most valuable company, also slammed talk of an AI investment bubble. The Japanese company simply needed to raise capital to fund projects including data center construction, he told a forum in Tokyo Monday. "I don't want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest in OpenAI" and other projects, Son said during the FII Priority Asia forum. "I was crying to sell Nvidia shares."