SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is known for making audacious multibillion-dollar bets. Some acquisition deals, such as chip designer Arm Holdings PLC, have paid off nicely, while others, most notoriously WeWork Inc., became big flops. So what about OpenAI, by far Son’s largest investment?
In March, the ChatGPT maker completed a historic funding round, raising $122 billion, with SoftBank promising to put in $30 billion more. Upon completion of this follow-on investment, the Japanese conglomerate will have deployed $64.6 billion into the AI startup, for about a 13% stake.
Son has done very well with the first $34.6 billion, most of which was invested last year at a $260 billion valuation. The latest funding round, which pegs OpenAI’s valuation at $852 billion, will allow his firm to book $45 billion in paper gains, implying a 129% return, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
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