Shuli Ren, Columnist

SoftBank Is Going All In on OpenAI, But at What Cost?

April 19, 2026 at 9:30 PM UTC

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barron’s. She is a CFA charterholder.

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Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty

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Would you buy OpenAI’s shares even though the transaction might expose you to a liquidity crunch? SoftBank Group Corp.’s founder Masayoshi Son did just that.

OpenAI completed the largest funding round in Silicon Valley history last month, raising $122 billion ahead of a blockbuster public listing expected by the end of this year. SoftBank, already one of the ChatGPT maker’s largest shareholders, promised to put in $30 billion more.