SoftBank cuts OpenAI-backed margin loan target by 40% to $6bn
May 8, 2026 – 10:06 am
Image by: Shutterstock
Lenders pushed back on valuing OpenAI shares as collateral. The downsize lands a fortnight after the $10bn ask first surfaced and is the clearest signal yet that even an $852bn primary round has not closed the gap between sticker and what banks will lend against.
SoftBank Group has trimmed the size of a margin loan it is trying to raise against its OpenAI stake to as little as $6bn, down from the $10bn it originally pitched, after several creditors balked at the valuation, according to Bloomberg.
The Tokyo-listed conglomerate and bankers running the syndication have spent recent weeks separately walking lenders through a smaller transaction, according to Bloomberg‘s sources. Discussions are continuing, and the final size could change again. Pricing has not been re-disclosed; the original pitch carried an indicative margin of around 425 basis points over SOFR, which would put the borrowing rate near 7.9% at current rates.
The borrowing structure is unusual for SoftBank, not in scale but in collateral. Margin loans against listed shares are a standard treasury tool. Margin loans against private-company stakes, even very large ones, are less so, and pricing them depends on a creditor’s confidence that the underlying valuation will hold under stress and that recourse is meaningful if it does not.
What lenders pushed back on:
- OpenAI‘s $852bn post-money valuation, struck in March’s primary round.
- Lenders were already conservative on advance rates, with terms reflecting a substantial haircut for the margin loan against such a high valuation. The further downsizing suggests the haircut they are willing to apply has widened.
Two pieces of evidence sit in the lender’s file. First, the secondary market. Reported price talk on OpenAI secondary lots since the primary close has skewed below the $852bn mark, with sellers outnumbering buyers by roughly five to one in some recent venues. Second, the volume of debt SoftBank has already piled on against its position.
S&P lowered SoftBank‘s credit outlook last month, citing concerns that the scale of OpenAI exposure could impair the group’s liquidity and the credit quality of its broader asset base. The agency did not flag the margin loan specifically; it would not have needed to. The directional signal is the same.
How big is the SoftBank-OpenAI stack now?
SoftBank’s cumulative committed exposure to OpenAI will reach roughly $64.6bn once the latest $30bn follow-on closes, giving the group around 13% of the company. To get to that number, Masayoshi Son sold the entire Nvidia stake (about $5.83bn) and the residual T-Mobile holding (about $12.73bn) between June and December 2025, then borrowed $40b.