What SoftBank is up to now

New 09-04: the retail bond PRICED at 4.75% — the TOP of the 4.3-4.9% indicative range, not the middle, and more than double the ~2.3% YTD average for comparable yen retail corporate paper. The structure is the read: banks reportedly declined the risk, which removed the underwriter cushion and left households setting the clearing price directly. Seven-year unsecured duration sold to retail, in a rising-JGB regime with the BOJ reportedly weighing a quarter-point hike on 09-18. Japan's retail-bond issuance is at a record Y2.88tn YTD. Compare ByteDance the same morning: $29.6bn UNSECURED and oversubscribed. The market is still discriminating by what backs the borrowing. New 08-29: negotiating to buy majority control of 1X, an OpenAI-backed humanoid-robotics startup, around a $6bn valuation -- reported the same week as the OpenAI-stake loan below. Coverage headlines a "$6bn discount" without establishing the prior valuation it is measured against, so this is logged as the reported deal value only, not a confirmed markdown. New 08-28: borrowing against the OpenAI stake rather than trimming it. A reported $10bn two-year facility secured on the holding, priced around SOFR+275, Mizuho lead arranger, proceeds likely earmarked to refinance the existing $40bn OpenAI bridge loan. The posture is the point: it keeps the position intact while converting paper into spendable cash, stacking a second layer of leverage on an asset that is itself the collateral. HOLD PRECISELY: single-outlet, reported rather than filed. Separately still pending: the Y1tn retail bond prices 09-04.

as of 2026-09-04