SoftBank lost more than 700 billion yen in the first half, and Vision Fund’s investment gains were reduced to a mere fraction of what they were. Yet Masayoshi Son still sent OpenAI the last of the money—bringing the total to more than $60 billion.
Most of the losses had little to do with the companies it invested in. They came from changing its own plans. A revision to its procurement plan for power-generation equipment at U.S. AI data centers led to a one-time impairment charge of $3.7 billion, hitting the Ohio project for OpenAI’s Stargate initiative squarely.
The stock surged in Tokyo on the day of the earnings report, but plunged 10% in early trading today. The move is a little baffling—the big gain from yesterday has mostly been wiped out. It’s the same report, but yesterday the market was focused on OpenAI, and today it’s focused on this impairment. Sentiment can turn that quickly.
Most of the losses had little to do with the companies it invested in. They came from changing its own plans. A revision to its procurement plan for power-generation equipment at U.S. AI data centers led to a one-time impairment charge of $3.7 billion, hitting the Ohio project for OpenAI’s Stargate initiative squarely.
The stock surged in Tokyo on the day of the earnings report, but plunged 10% in early trading today. The move is a little baffling—the big gain from yesterday has mostly been wiped out. It’s the same report, but yesterday the market was focused on OpenAI, and today it’s focused on this impairment. Sentiment can turn that quickly.