The $41 Billion Golden Ticket: SoftBank Seals Historic OpenAI Stake

SoftBank Group has completed the payment of an additional $22.5 billion investment into OpenAI last Friday, 26 December 2025, bringing the group’s total capital injection to about $41 billion. Following the transaction, SoftBank will hold roughly 11% of OpenAI’s equity, making it the company’s third-largest shareholder after Microsoft and the OpenAI Foundation. The new shareholder landscape thus shows Microsoft at 27%, the OpenAI Foundation at 26%, and SoftBank at 11%.

SoftBank’s move follows the October asset restructuring of OpenAI, which the article describes as transforming the company into a for-profit entity governed by a nonprofit parent. The piece also notes SoftBank’s broader ambitions, including a $4 billion acquisition of DigitalBridge, as part of a strategy to build a vertically integrated AI platform.