SoftBank Borrows a Record $11 Billion to Fund Its OpenAI Payment
Monday, September 218 Min Read
The Japanese group launched a sale of unsecured dollar and euro notes to cover the third $10 billion tranche it owes OpenAI on October 1. Fitch rates the notes BB+; pricing falls on September 24, the morning the Tokyo exchange reopens from a three-day holiday.
$11B
Total Size Brought to Market
BB+
Fitch Rating on the Notes
8.2%
Yield on the 2031 Dollar Bond This Month
$15B
Notes Sold by SoftBank in 2026
In This Piece7 Sections
The Tokyo Stock Exchange is shut for three days this week: September 21, 22 and 23. Under Japanese law a weekday falling between two national holidays becomes a holiday itself.
The exchange reopens on September 24.
SoftBank's bond sale prices the same day.
The Deal on Offer
The company launched a sale of unsecured dollar and euro notes on September 21. According to the term sheet seen by Reuters, the dollar portion is $10 billion and the euro portion €1 billion.
| Tranche · Maturity | Size | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar · 3.5 · 5.5 · 7.5 years | $10B | — |
| Euro · 4 · 6 years | €1B | — |
| Pricing | — | September 24 |
| Settlement | — | September 29 |
| Payment to OpenAI | $10B | October 1 |
Fitch assigned the notes BB+. That is the top rung of speculative grade, one notch below investment grade.
If the sale closes at the planned size it will be the largest non-financial corporate bond ever issued out of Asia-Pacific and Japan. The current record is the $10.93 billion 7-Eleven raised in January 2021.
That last figure supplies the context: SoftBank is the largest speculative-grade borrower in the bond market this year.
Where the Money Goes
In February the company signed a definitive agreement for a $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI. It is paid in three equal tranches: April, July and October 1.
The third tranche is $10 billion.
This is not an investment decision.
It is a payment that comes due on October 1.
In the months between, the banks supplied the cash. SoftBank arranged a $40 billion bridge facility in March 2026 and drew $30 billion of it. According to the company's September 9 filing, it prepaid the remaining $25.9 billion — ¥3,981.9 billion — on September 15.
The bank debt is gone and bond debt replaces it. What changed is who carries it: a narrow lending syndicate has become a wide bond market.
Which Income Pays the Interest
Once the third tranche closes, SoftBank will have put $64.6 billion into OpenAI. That buys roughly a 13% stake.
The stake pays no dividend. It is not publicly traded, it has no daily price, and it generates no cash.
The coupon, by contrast, wants cash every year. Bloomberg reported that the company's 2031 dollar bond traded at an 8.2% yield this month, against 6.7% in January.
On $11 billion of borrowing that works out to roughly $900 million of annual interest. The OpenAI stake does not pay it. A dividend from the telecom unit, a sold asset, or fresh debt pays it.
OpenAI's own cash burn is not the subject here; that arithmetic sits in a separate piece.
The Denominator Sets the Limit
SoftBank has a rule it set itself: net debt should not exceed 25% of the value of its portfolio. At the end of June 2026 the ratio was 13%.
Fitch expects the new borrowing to lift it to 31% gross and 28% net by March 2027.
Net Debt as a Share of Portfolio Value
Rising debt is not the only thing that pushes the ratio up.
The borrower manages the numerator. The market manages the denominator. That is why leverage does not work in one direction only.
Arm Is the Heaviest Holding
SoftBank's single largest asset is Arm. In September the company raised the loan secured against its Arm shares by $5 billion, to $25 billion.
Arm stock rose more than 16% on Monday, after its chief executive said demand for a new processor designed for AI work was running stronger than he had expected.
The collateral gained value. So did the room the loan provides.
The same equation runs in reverse.
The chart offers a frame, not proof: it shows how much the collateral value moves.
It Has Not Been Raised Yet
Some headlines say SoftBank "raised $11 billion." It has not yet.
What happened on September 21 was the launch of a sale. Pricing is September 24, settlement September 29. The OpenAI payment is due October 1.
That leaves two days.
If the deal shrinks, or the coupon settles above expectations, the obligation does not change. What changes is the source and the cost of meeting it. Here the bond yield is not a price but a constraint.
Timeline
- February 27SoftBank signs the definitive agreement for a $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI.
- MarchA $40 billion bridge facility is arranged; $30 billion is drawn.
- September 15The remaining $25.9 billion of the bridge loan is prepaid.
- September 18The Arm-backed loan is raised by $5 billion, to $25 billion.
- September 21A $10 billion and €1 billion bond sale is launched.
- September 24Pricing day; the Tokyo exchange reopens from its three-day break the same morning.
- October 1The third OpenAI tranche is paid.
What Is Left
At the end of June SoftBank's portfolio was worth ¥72.3 trillion, the highest in the company's history. Its leverage ratio was historically low at the same time.
The two facts feed each other: when a portfolio is expensive, the debt against it looks cheap.
This piece draws on SoftBank Group's September 9 filing on the early repayment of its bridge loans, the bond term sheet reported by Reuters and Bloomberg on September 21, Fitch Ratings' BB+ assignment, and the Japan Exchange Group holiday calendar. The final coupon on the notes was not known at the time of writing.
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