SoftBank Is Seeking Up to $100 Billion From Gulf Investors for an AI Acquisition Fund, FT Reports

Since SoftBank completed its $30 billion investment in OpenAI last week and raised $11.1 billion in the largest high-yield corporate bond sale in the world last month, founder Masayoshi Son has been looking for another pool of capital. This time the target is the Gulf.

Son is seeking to raise up to $100 billion from Gulf investors, the Financial Times reported on Friday, Oct. 9, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the FT, he has held discussions in recent weeks with senior figures, including in the United Arab Emirates. Bloomberg described the talks as initial.

SoftBank did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the FT's account. No Gulf investor has publicly confirmed participation.

What the fund would do

The money would go into a new fund, per the FT. The fund would buy companies and then use AI and other advanced technologies, including robotics, to improve how they operate.

That is a different pitch from writing a check to a model developer. It is a buyout-and-operate strategy with AI as the tool for squeezing more out of the acquired businesses. The reporting names no targets, no sectors and no timeline.

The financing run so far

The $100 billion figure lands on top of an already heavy few weeks for SoftBank's balance sheet.

The company said last week it had completed its $30 billion investment in OpenAI, which it described as fulfilling its commitment to the ChatGPT maker's most recent fundraising round. The $11.1 billion high-yield bond sale last month was done to fund that same OpenAI bet, according to Reuters.

The Gulf talks would add a third source of money to those two.

Single source, early stage

Everything about the Gulf raise currently comes from one outlet's anonymous sourcing. The FT has not published a named investor, a commitment or a term sheet, and the reported talks are described as recent discussions, not a concluded deal. A "seeking up to" figure is a ceiling on the ask, not capital in hand.

Newsquawk's market commentary struck the same note. It said sums this size are typically aspirational at announcement and close well below the initial ask. It also said the first thing to resolve is the gap between headline intent and committed capital.

That commentary also flagged the structure as the variable that matters. Past SoftBank fundraisings of this kind, it said, have involved leveraged vehicles, preferred structures and debt at the holding company. Each has different consequences for SoftBank's credit metrics and for the discount at which its shares trade to the value of its holdings. Newsquawk said large new commitments funded with leverage have historically widened that discount, while outside validation of the AI portfolio has at times narrowed it.

Those are market analysts' observations about how past raises behaved. They are not findings about this one, which has no disclosed structure yet.

What would settle it

Several facts would show quickly whether this is a real raise or an opening bid:

• Whether SoftBank or any Gulf investor confirms the talks on the record.
• Whether the money would be equity in a fund SoftBank manages, or debt at the fund or holding-company level.
• Whether SoftBank sells any of its existing listed stakes. Newsquawk noted that asset sales have often preceded new deployment cycles.

SoftBank did not respond to a request for comment on the report. Until it or a Gulf investor weighs in, the only number on the table is the FT's $100 billion, and the open question is how much of it anyone commits.