{"id":257739,"date":"2025-11-12T00:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257739\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T00:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:24:16","slug":"softbank-sells-nvidia-stake-for-5-8bn-as-it-prepares-for-ai-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257739\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank sells Nvidia stake for $5.8bn as it prepares for AI investments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

Masayoshi Son\u2019s SoftBank Group has sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.8bn as the Japanese company looks for ways to fund its growing investments in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

SoftBank\u2019s announcement that it had sold 32mn shares of the AI chipmaker last month came as it reported net profit of \u00a52.5tn ($16.2bn) in the quarter to the end of September, more than double the same period last year and far above analysts\u2019 expectations of \u00a5207bn, according to LSEG data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year our investment in OpenAI is large \u2014 more than $30bn needs to be made \u2014 so for that we do need to divest our existing portfolios,\u201d said SoftBank\u2019s chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto on Tuesday. \u201cWe did not have a specific\u00a0[reason to sell] in October and it was nothing to do with Nvidia itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second-quarter profits were also driven by the group\u2019s tech-heavy Vision Funds, which recorded an investment gain of \u00a52.8tn from holdings including ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Japanese payments group PayPay<\/a>. SoftBank also sold some of its stake in US telecoms operator T-Mobile for $9.2bn.<\/p>\n

Nvidia shares were down more than 3 per cent on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Son has bet his reputation on a series of huge investments aimed at turning SoftBank<\/a> into a critical player in AI \u2014 a technology he believes will shape \u201chumanity\u2019s future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alongside his ownership of UK chip designer Arm, Son has invested in cloud software developer Oracle, is supporting the massive Stargate data centre build-out<\/a> in the US and most recently bought ABB\u2019s robotics arm<\/a> in a deal valuing the business at $5.4bn.<\/p>\n

SoftBank\u2019s shares have more than doubled this year to over \u00a522,000 as investors view them as a way to gain exposure to OpenAI, making Son Japan\u2019s richest man.<\/p>\n

The company on Tuesday announced a four-to-one stock split that will take effect on January 1, saying it would make the shares \u201cmore accessible to investors and further expand its investor base\u201d.<\/p>\n

Oliver Matthew, an analyst at CLSA, said SoftBank\u2019s shares still traded at a discount of close to 25 per cent compared with the value of its holdings if OpenAI were to be valued at $1tn. He has a target share price of \u00a529,000.<\/p>\n

Last month the ChatGPT maker completed a long-awaited restructuring<\/a>, unlocking a second tranche of investment from SoftBank and the possibility of an eventual public listing. After the reorganisation, SoftBank now owns roughly 11 per cent of OpenAI, compared with Microsoft\u2019s close to 27 per cent.<\/p>\n

Other analysts, however, have warned that SoftBank\u2019s valuation might be too high.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

David Gibson at MST Financial downgraded the stock last month on concerns that demand for OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT might have peaked, and around SoftBank\u2019s funding commitments.<\/p>\n

The company can fund its investments this year with cash, debt and some share sales, but the longer-term picture was less clear, Gibson told clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cLonger term I estimate [SoftBank] has committed $113bn of investments, but only has funding ability of $58.5bn and hence it has overcommitted,\u201d he wrote, adding that the company might need to tap money from its Vision Funds or \u201csell down its stakes\u201d in its telecoms operator SoftBank Corporation or Arm to fund its plans.<\/p>\n

The \u201cmarket has ignored this unfunded risk which is ripe for execution problems\u201d, Gibson wrote. \u201cRecent debt issuance at interest rates over 8 per cent suggest the debt market realises this while I think the equity market has not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video: Nvidia’s rise in the age of AI | FT Film<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-257739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}