SoftBank’s Son ‘was crying’ about the firm’s need to sell its Nvidia stake AI Bets
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks at the SoftBank World event on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan. Speaking via teleconference, Son and OpenAI chief Sam Altman argued that advancing AI will lead to new jobs not yet imagined, and that progress in robotics will help usher in a cycle of “personal development.” Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son downplayed decision to spin off entire conglomerate on Monday Nvidia He said he “cried” about leaving the shares.
Speaking at a forum in Tokyo on Monday, Son said in SoftBank’s November announcement that the firm was selling its stake in American Chip Darling for $5.83 billion.
According to Son, SoftBank wouldn’t have made this move if it didn’t need to finance its next round of AI investments, including a major investment in OpenAI and data center projects.
“I don’t want to sell even a single share. I needed more money to invest in OpenAI and other projects,” Son said. During the FII Priority Asia forum. “I was crying out to sell Nvidia shares.”
Son’s comments are consistent with what analysts and other SoftBank executives said in November described the sale as part of broader efforts to bolster the SoftBank Vision Fund’s AI war chest.
SoftBank has doubled down on its AI plans this year with a number of projects including work on Project Stargate data centers and the acquisition of US chip designer Ampere Computing.
The Japanese giant could “potentially” increase its investment in OpenAI depending on the ChatGPT maker’s performance and the valuation of subsequent rounds, a person familiar with the matter previously told CNBC.
Earlier this year, Son said SoftBank was fully involved in OpenAI and predicted that the AI startup would one day become the world’s most valuable company.
That bet has borne some fruit so far, with SoftBank reporting last month that its second-quarter net profit more than doubled to 2.5 trillion yen ($16.6 billion), driven by valuation gains on its OpenAI assets.
But SoftBank’s big AI bets come at a time of growing fear and uneasiness in markets about a potential AI bubble.
In his speech on Monday, Son pushed back against those concerns, arguing that those talking about an AI bubble “are not smart enough.”
He predicted “Superb” [artificial] Intelligence” and artificial intelligence robots will account for at least 10 percent of global gross domestic product in the long term, which will outweigh trillions of dollars of investment in the technology, he said.
