SoftBank Plans Record Bond Sale to Fund OpenAI

SoftBank Group is planning a record 1 trillion yen in retail bonds, seven-year notes targeted at retail investors, with indicative coupons of 4.3% to 4.9% and terms to be finalized on Sept. 4. The bonds are unsecured but come with investor protections, and this issuance would be the largest retail bond offering by any issuer in Japan. The proceeds are earmarked to support SoftBank’s aggressive OpenAI commitments, which now total more than $60 billion, as the company aims for a substantial ownership stake in OpenAI. This marks SoftBank’s third retail-bond sale this year, part of a broader strategy to fund its AI investments while managing debt via a $40 billion unsecured bridge loan maturing in March 2027. With Japan’s high-yielding fixed-income environment, the deal sits alongside ongoing financing activity tied to SoftBank’s OpenAI ambitions, and credit watchers note the company’s outlook has been upgraded to stable. The movement underscores SoftBank’s continued reliance on heavy equity-like commitments to OpenAI to drive its technology strategy.