surprising fact
SoftBank became Japan’s most valuable company on Monday, with its market capitalization exceeding that of automaker Toyota Motor. The investment giant has a market value of $262.9 billion as of Thursday, ahead of Toyota’s $233.7 billion.
key background
Son’s fortune quickly swelled to above $100 billion earlier this week following a roughly 80% rally in SoftBank’s shares this year. The investment giant has bet big on AI in recent years, including a nearly 90% stake in the Nasdaq-listed chip maker Arm Holdings—whose shares have surged by 230% this year—and a recent $30 billion investment in OpenAI, which Son said would help “accelerate OpenAI’s research and ecosystem expansion.” Son told CNBC AI is the “biggest revolution of technology and realization that mankind ever experienced,” suggesting the hype surrounding the technology was up to 50 times bigger than the dot-com revolution in the 2000s.
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what to watch for
OpenAI, in which Son’s SoftBank holds a hefty investment, is expected to file confidentially for an IPO soon. CNBC reported that OpenAI was expected to file at the end of May, and the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that an IPO is expected in the coming days or weeks. The ChatGPT maker was valued at $852 billion following a March funding round, though Anthropic secured its place as the most valuable AI startup last month after a $65 billion round valued the company at $900 billion.
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further reading
ForbesSoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Becomes Asia’s Richest Person Amid AI BoomBy Yue Wang