SoftBank funds OpenAI with bonds without drawing the remaining $10bn bridge capacity

Updated 26 September 2026. Our 21 September version said the new bonds would “replace” a $10bn bridge. SoftBank's official statement on 24 September makes the crucial distinction: the remaining $10bn of bridge capacity had not been drawn and the company expects to cancel it. The plan is to fund the last OpenAI instalment with newly issued debt, not to use bonds to repay $10bn already borrowed. We have corrected the headline, diagram and explanation in both languages.

Three flows that should not be conflated

SoftBank Group is the Japanese holding company funding, among other investments, its stake in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence model developer. A third $10bn instalment is scheduled for 1 October. The company has set the terms of $10bn in dollar bonds and €1bn in euro bonds, for an issue expected on 29 September. Proceeds are intended for the OpenAI payment and general corporate purposes.

Our article on the separate repayment of $25.9bn of bridge loans concerns an amount actually outstanding that was repaid in September. The undrawn $10bn here is not a second $10bn debt repayment. Our analysis of the $6.5bn credit line already distinguished available funding from money actually borrowed. That distinction changes the meaning of the present article.

The cost of the new bonds can now be measured

SoftBank priced three dollar tranches: $1bn at 8.625%, $4.5bn at 9.250% and $4.5bn at 9.750%. The euro tranches are €500m at 7.125% and €500m at 8.000%. Maturities span 2030 to 2034. According to the issuer statement, these senior notes have neither collateral nor a guarantee.

Opulion calculation: 1,000 × 8.625% + 4,500 × 9.250% + 4,500 × 9.750% = $941.25m of nominal coupons for a full year; 500 × 7.125% + 500 × 8.000% = €75.625m. We keep the two currencies separate. This is not the total accounting charge for the next financial year: issuance is still expected, the first year will be partial and fees are excluded.

For shareholders, the development is straightforward: SoftBank is choosing longer maturities and an explicit cost to fund OpenAI while giving up bank capacity it did not use. That is neither $10bn of deleveraging, nor a net-debt increase that can be calculated by mechanically adding every announcement. The position after bond settlement and the OpenAI payment still needs to be reconciled with cash and other holding-company financing.