Lenders stopped valuing OpenAI shares as collateral. The drop comes two weeks after the $10 billion request was first revealed and is the clearest signal yet that even the $852 billion initial round has not closed the gap between the sticker and what banks will lend.
SoftBank Group has cut the size of the margin loan it was trying to raise against its OpenAI stake to $6 billion from $10 billion, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The Tokyo-listed conglomerate and the bankers running the syndicate have in recent weeks floated the lenders separately through a smaller transaction, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
Discussions are ongoing and the final size may change again. Prices have not been released again; the original pitch carried an indicative margin of about 425 basis points over the SOFR, which would put the borrowing rate at around 7.9% at current rates.
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The debt structure is unusual for SoftBank in terms of collateral, not scale. Margin loans against listed stocks are a standard treasury instrument.
Margin loans against private equity, even very large ones, are less common and their pricing depends on the lender’s belief that the underlying valuation will remain under stress and that the application would otherwise make sense.
What creditors pushed back
OpenAI’s post-money valuation of $852 billion in its March seed round is new and huge; creditors SoftBank’s original $10 billion margin loan request against him, he was already conservative in advance rates, with conditions reflecting a significant haircut. Further shrinking shows the range of hairstyles they are willing to apply.
There are two pieces of evidence in the lender’s document. First, the secondary market. Since the initial close, reported price discussions on OpenAI secondary lots have fallen below $852 billion, with sellers outnumbering buyers by nearly five to one in some recent locations. Second, SoftBank’s debt is already stacked against its position.
The group secured a $40 billion bridge for its latest OpenAI sequel, and is using OpenAI shares to leverage its third-tier pot. Each new layer reduces banks’ cushions if they hit the foreclosure market.
S&P downgraded SoftBank’s credit outlook last month, citing concerns that the scale of the OpenAI risk could hurt the group’s liquidity and the credit quality of its broader asset base.
The agency did not specifically mention the margin loan; it wouldn’t be necessary. The direction signal is the same.
That’s how big the SoftBank-OpenAI stack is now
SoftBank’s total commitment to OpenAI will reach about $64.6 billion after the latest $30 billion pursuit closes, giving the group about 13% of the company.
To reach this figure, Masayoshi Son sold his entire Nvidia stake (about $5.83 billion) and the remaining T-Mobile holding (about $12.73 billion) between June and December 2025, then took on debt. The $40 billion bridge it provided to fund the OpenAI program, syndicated among eight banks.
Group debt now stands at about ¥20.45 trillion ($135 billion). A reduced margin loan would take this further, but would do so at the most opportunistic point in the structure: collateralized, callable and refinanceable rather than converted into long-term bonds.
The capital is deployed at the same pace. In addition to the OpenAI round itself, SoftBank invested in Stargate, an AI infrastructure tool in partnership with OpenAI and Oracle, and adjacent infrastructure, for example. Turning Sharp’s LCD factory into a battery factory for AI data centers. Each of these liabilities requires cash in a multi-quarter window.
SoftBank is not short of liquidity. The Group has access to multiple term debt and has historically been able to refinance over the term.
Of interest in this margin story isn’t whether the firm closed it at $6 billion, $8 billion, or $10 billion again, but what the trajectory says about how the funding world now values ​​OpenAI relative to its initial valuation.
Two readings sit on the table. The good news is that lenders are being procedurally wary of the young collateral class, and the haircut will tighten as OpenAI ages and more public appraisal tape emerges.
Less unpleasant is that the secondary market prices are correct and the initial circulation was overpriced; in this case, the active base of the entire SoftBank-OpenAI thesis is significantly less than the title.
No reading is proven today. Both will be tested when SoftBank reports earnings in early August, when OpenAI is expected to release updated revenue figures and when the next second lot clears.
A move closer to $6 billion at the original 425bps spread, or a wider spread for the same size, would both reflect the true cost of borrowing against private AI equity. Second, whether other holders of OpenAI stock are testing similar facilities. A
ndreessen Horowitz and DE Shaw Ventures are the final buyers; their treasury teams will closely monitor SoftBank’s process.
Third, OpenAI’s own stance. The company has so far supported the use of its own shares as collateral by its investors; This stance may change if the price worsens.
For now, the title is narrower than the broader question. SoftBank wanted to borrow $10 billion and is on track to borrow $6 billion. The number tells the story; the trend is important.
