SoftBank Makes Good on $40 Billion OpenAI Investment

SoftBank completed its promised $40 billion investment commitment to OpenAI, CNBC reported Tuesday (Dec. 30), citing unnamed sources.

The Japanese investment firm last week gave the artificial intelligence startup a final payment of $22 billion to $22.5 billion, the report said. SoftBank had previously syndicated $10 billion and invested $8 billion in OpenAI. This finalized investment gives SoftBank a more than 10% stake in the company.

CNBC previously reported that SoftBank was finalizing a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $260 billion pre-money valuation, adding that this funding would help support OpenAI’s AI infrastructure Stargate joint venture with Oracle and SoftBank.

Tuesday’s news followed a series of reports about OpenAI’s fundraising plans, including one from The Information that the company was aiming to raise as much as $100 billion at a valuation of about $750 billion.

Days earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI was seeking up to $100 billion in a funding round that could value the company at $830 billion. Another report the same week said that Amazon was in discussions to invest around $10 billion in OpenAI and that the investment could value the startup at $500 billion.

Also this month, OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from The Walt Disney Company, while also signing a groundbreaking three-year licensing agreement that will let its Sora video model generate brief, fan-created clips using more than 200 Disney-owned characters, settings and worlds.

As PYMNTS reported Dec. 11, soon after the Disney deal was announced, the agreement illustrates that a studio can develop a structured licensing model that uses AI and while also protecting creative rights. Disney can still control the scope of generated content, remove creations that violate standards and update the rules as the technology evolves.

“The company also gains early access to AI models that may support future production methods, including rapid previsualization, localization and internal creative assistance,” the Dec. 11 report said. “OpenAI gains access to one of the most globally recognized character libraries. The company said it will adapt Sora to operate within legal and creative limits and work with Disney on enforcement systems that stay aligned with the agreement.”

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