The Japanese technology investor has seen its shares rally to record highs in recent months, driven largely by expectations that an OpenAI listing would unlock significant value for its investment portfolio.
By October, SoftBank’s total investment in the ChatGPT-maker is expected to reach nearly $65 billion, helping lift its market capitalisation above Toyota Motor Corp. last month.
However, investor sentiment turned cautious after a New York Times report said bankers advising OpenAI had warned that continued volatility in technology stocks could reduce investor appetite for a public listing.
The report triggered SoftBank’s sharpest intraday decline in over three months during trading in Tokyo.
According to Bloomberg, a successful OpenAI IPO would provide a transparent market valuation for one of SoftBank’s largest private holdings.
Analysts believe such visibility could also narrow the conglomerate discount that investors typically apply to SoftBank’s shares, making it easier to assess the value of its broader portfolio of privately held companies.
“News of an IPO delay naturally dampens those expectations,” Hiroki Takei, a strategist at Resona Holdings, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
OpenAI, led by Sam Altman, has already confidentially filed paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley on a potential listing as early as this fall.
Bloomberg had earlier reported that the company also plans to conduct a tender offer in the coming weeks to provide liquidity to employees before pursuing an IPO.
The artificial intelligence company faces increasing competition from rivals such as Anthropic, which has also filed for an IPO, and Google’s Gemini.
OpenAI, which sparked the generative AI boom with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, has recently faced challenges after reports indicated it missed internal revenue and user growth targets. The company has also witnessed senior executive departures while working to streamline its product portfolio.
Despite those headwinds, OpenAI recently completed a massive funding round, raising $122 billion from investors at a valuation of $852 billion, underscoring continued investor interest ahead of its eventual public market debut.
With agency inputs
