SoftBank’s $60 Billion OpenAI Bet Sparks Concerns

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**Oanh Ha** (0:08)
There's been no shortage of drama lately surrounding OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:15)
Jury ruling against Elon Musk in his trial against OpenAI, basically saying that he should have brought this case sooner.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:21)
Seven months before the killing spree, a chat GBT account linked to shooter Jesse Van Roetselar was flagged internally for abuse and enforcement.

**Oanh Ha** (0:31)
A slew of lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI. Elon Musk sued Altman and the company for turning what was a non-profit into a for-profit business. A jury rejected the claims Monday and Musk said he'll appeal. Then there's the families who accused the company of failing to prevent chatbot interactions that they say contributed to violence and self-harm. The companies denied liability in those lawsuits. There's also reports that OpenAI failed to meet internal sales goals and user targets for its AI bot, ChatGPT.
That's made investors nervous.
But there's one OpenAI backer who's standing firm, Japan's most famous investor, SoftBank founder and chief executive, Masayoshi Son.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (1:18)
Masayoshi Son remains very much committed to Sam Altman and OpenAI and is seemingly unvazed by all these challenges.

**Oanh Ha** (1:28)
Min-Jeong Lee is a technology reporter for Bloomberg, based in Tokyo.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (1:32)
Son has said over and over how he uses ChatGPT every day.
He loves the app, he loves the technology, he really believes this will continue to change the world in a way that is beneficial to humanity. And I think he genuinely believes Altman is someone who will get us there.

**Oanh Ha** (1:58)
But not everyone at SoftBank is as big a believer. Bloomberg spoke to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter, including insiders. They requested anonymity because they're not authorized to speak to the press.
But they told Bloomberg that some executives at SoftBank are worried the relationship between Son and Altman isn't exactly equal.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (2:20)
Son's support for Altman is very deep and strong, and it goes beyond financial support. But from Altman's side, what we're seeing is a dynamic where it's very business-like.

**Oanh Ha** (2:39)
That perceived imbalance is especially striking given the scale of Son's commitment. SoftBank has pumped more than $60 billion into OpenAI. That would make SoftBank the company's second largest external shareholder, with a nearly 13 percent stake.
It's also the biggest investment SoftBank has ever made in a single private company.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (3:03)
Son has a tendency to really wholeheartedly support a specific type of entrepreneurs.

**Oanh Ha** (3:12)
But his devotion to a single company is now being tested with OpenAI, as the AI industry enters a fiercely competitive chapter.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (3:21)
Anthropic has risen at a pace that I think nobody really saw it becoming so successful so fast. And this all kind of adds to the growing uncertainties and the risks of putting such a huge bet into a single company like OpenAI when you don't really know what to expect tomorrow, next month, next year.

**Oanh Ha** (3:49)
This is the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Oanh Ha. Every week, we take you inside some of the world's biggest and most powerful economies, and the markets, tycoons, and businesses that drive this ever-shifting region. Today in the show, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's 60 billion bet on Sam Altman and OpenAI. How Son came to make such a big investment in Altman, and why what some say looks like a lopsided relationship is triggering alarms.
Masayoshi Son is one of the most influential figures in tech investing. He started SoftBank in 1981, selling software, and turned it into a $200 billion powerhouse built on making bold bets on tech firms.
Over time, Son has become known for spotting winners early. It's a reputation acknowledged by the biggest names in tech, including NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. Here's Huang speaking about Son at an AI summit in Tokyo in 2024

**Jensen Huang** (4:53)
Masa is the only entrepreneur, only innovator, in the world that has selected the winner and partnered with the winner in every single generation.

**Oanh Ha** (5:05)
In 2000, Son backed a then unknown Jack Ma with a $20 million investment. That bet turned into a jackpot when Alibaba went public in 2014 with a valuation of more than $160 billion.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (5:20)
That deal kind of really earned him the reputation as a venture capitalist who is able to really foresee what the next big thing is.

**Oanh Ha** (5:29)
Bloomberg's Min-Jeong Lee says Son saw something special in OpenAI's Sam Altman, too.

**Min-Jeong Lee** (5:35)
When Son first met Altman, this is according to what Son has said publicly, he told Altman that, oh, you're going to go for artificial general intelligence. I believe you, I want to invest. We have reporting that SoftBank wanted to invest about one billion in OAI and Altman. But around that time, Altman was not actively seeking investors, so this deal did not happen.