SoftBank seeks over $11B in junk bond deal to fund OpenAI investment

SoftBank Group is preparing to issue more than $11 billion in high-yield bonds, making it one of the largest junk bond offerings in recent memory. The proceeds are earmarked almost entirely for the company’s mounting financial commitments to OpenAI, the AI lab behind ChatGPT.

The deal structure includes $10 billion in US dollar-denominated bonds spread across three maturities, plus €1 billion in euro-denominated notes across two maturities. The issuance is expected to price around September 24, 2026, with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley running the books.

What SoftBank is actually buying

SoftBank’s total commitment to OpenAI is approaching $65 billion, in exchange for a targeted 13% stake in the company. That math implies a pre-money valuation of $730 billion for OpenAI, a number that would make it one of the most valuable private companies ever to exist.

The bond deal is part of a broader financing push that has seen the Japanese conglomerate raise approximately $37 billion year-to-date through a combination of loans and bond sales. Just days before this offering, on September 15, 2026, SoftBank repaid $25.9 billion of a $40 billion bridge loan it had taken out to fund the OpenAI position. The company also recently closed an $11.87 billion loan from roughly 20 banks, providing additional runway as it builds out its AI portfolio.

The credit picture

SoftBank carries a BB+ credit rating, sitting one notch below investment grade. That’s the technical definition of junk, though the company is essentially at the threshold of respectability in bond market terms.

Investor outreach took place in New York ahead of the deal, and the roster of underwriting banks signals that Wall Street’s biggest names are comfortable putting their names on it.

Masayoshi Son’s AI conviction, in dollar terms

SoftBank’s chairman Masayoshi Son has been public about his belief that artificial general intelligence represents the most important technological shift of his lifetime. The $37 billion raised through bonds and loans this year alone rivals the entire venture capital budgets of most large institutional investors.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund era left the company badly exposed when tech valuations collapsed in 2022. The company has since restructured parts of its balance sheet, and this bond deal reflects a more deliberate approach to liability management than the improvised financing that characterized some earlier investments.

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