Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son Are Dreaming Too Much
Do Son and Altman need to snap awake?
Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son are both big dreamers and talkers. The former is seeking trillions of dollars to reshape the business of chips and AI, and the latter is happily writing billion-dollar checks to catapult loss-making companies into the world’s most-valuable unicorns.
Together, the two are dreaming big again this year. SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to invest up to $30 billion more in OpenAI Inc. as the ChatGPT maker seeks to fund raise up to $100 billion at a valuation of as much as $830 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal, if successful, will bind the fortunes of the two companies even closer. SoftBank is one of OpenAI’s largest shareholders. Meanwhile, the Japanese conglomerate’s existing 11% stake already accounts for about 26% of its net asset value.