SoftBank Shrinks OpenAI Loan by 40% as Banks Balk at $10B Ask

SoftBank Group had lined up a $10 billion margin loan collateralized by its OpenAI shares, but is now marketing a $6 billion facility after several banks signaled discomfort with the larger exposure, according to Bloomberg. The haircut, reported by multiple outlets including Reuters, Seeking Alpha and The Business Times, points to renewed skepticism about the durability of private AI valuations that had soared above $150 billion. One banker involved told Bloomberg the revised size reflects "a more sober risk appetite" rather than any specific red flag at OpenAI. SoftBank still hopes to close the deal by late May and may syndicate pieces to a wider group of lenders to fill the book.

Shares in SoftBank fell as much as 10% in Tokyo after the loan reduction leaked, wiping roughly $8 billion from its market cap. The drop reversed part of a 40% rally that had carried the stock to decade highs on hopes that OpenAI’s appreciation would repair SoftBank’s once-battered balance sheet. Analysts at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley both trimmed price targets, noting that a smaller loan means less cash for new AI investments and slower deleveraging. Options activity spiked: put volume was three-times the 20-day average, Bloomberg data show, as traders hedged against further OpenAI markdowns.

The creditor pullback comes amid mounting evidence that OpenAI’s torrid revenue growth is cooling. While the company has not released audited numbers, three investors told Reuters that internal forecasts now point to 2026 revenue of $11–12 billion instead of the $14 billion once projected. The shortfall is blamed on slower enterprise uptake and higher inference costs for newer reasoning models. SoftBank itself booked a $4.2 billion mark-to-market gain on its OpenAI stake in the March quarter, a figure that would evaporate if the next funding round prices the startup below the last $157 billion mark. Bankers say they are modeling a 15–25% downside scenario in their credit memos.

CEO Masayoshi Son needs fresh cash to plug a self-imposed $22.5 billion funding gap for OpenAI’s next round, according to Fast Company. The margin loan was supposed to supply roughly half that amount, so the smaller size forces SoftBank to either pony up more balance-sheet cash or bring in outside co-investors. One path under discussion is a joint vehicle with Middle Eastern sovereign funds that would purchase part of SoftBank’s stake and refinance it at a lower blended cost. Another is an outright sale of a small slice to strategic partners such as Amazon, which is already integrating OpenAI models. A decision is expected before SoftBank’s June shareholder meeting.

The episode marks the first high-profile case of lenders pushing back against sky-high AI collateral values. Until now, banks competed to extend margin loans against shares in OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, often at loan-to-value ratios above 50%. SoftBank’s haircut could reset pricing across the sector: at least two other multi-billion-dollar facilities under negotiation are now being “re-scoped,” according to Debtwire. Venture lenders say they will demand more equity cushion and tighter covenants. For founders, the takeaway is that cheap debt secured by illiquid AI stock may no longer be a reliable source of runway extension.