最近超越 Toyota 成为日本市值最高公司的 SoftBank Group Corp.，因其创办人 Masayoshi Son 的激进投资承诺而面临重大的流动性挑战。SoftBank 承诺投入 646 亿美元以持有 Sam Altman 旗下 OpenAI 13% 的股份，这为其财年利润贡献了 439 亿美元的未实现帐面收益。然而，为了履行最新一笔 300 亿美元的承诺，SoftBank 不得不借入一笔将于明年三月到期的 400 亿美元过桥贷款。因此，OpenAI 迫在眉睫的 IPO 对于 SoftBank 至关重要，使其能够出售部分股份或以股份作为抵押获取利润率贷款，以偿还银行家，并防止若 IPO 失败且低于其最新 8,520 亿美元估值时，对其帐面利润进行减记。
为减轻流动性压力，Masayoshi Son 正在寻求其他融资管道，例如计划将 SB Energy Corp. 以及一家名为 Roze 的人工智能与机器人公司在美国上市。然而，这些努力面临著超大规模企业资金排挤的障碍，这些企业正在通过在海外发行瑞士法郎、日圆、欧元和加币的债券来耗尽全球融资选择。Alphabet 的股权融资举措可能是一项战略性举措，旨在预先封锁未上市竞争对手的融资管道，这意味著 SoftBank 和 OpenAI 将必须进行更艰难的运作，才能在一个被超大型企业严重主导的市场中实现其 IPO 梦想。
Alphabet Inc. has intensified the artificial intelligence compute infrastructure race by announcing an $80 billion equity raising campaign, which is set to fund massive capital expenditures projected to reach up to $190 billion in 2026—effectively doubling the previous year's spending—and grow even larger in 2027. This aggressive fundraising forms part of a broader trend where tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta collectively aim to spend up to $715 billion on AI infrastructure this year. This immense capital absorption is causing concerns about crowding out smaller competitors, with SpaceX marketing a potential $75 billion IPO and Anthropic filing confidentially for an IPO following a private-funding round that gave the company a higher valuation than OpenAI.
SoftBank Group Corp., which recently overtook Toyota as Japan’s most valuable company, faces significant liquidity challenges due to founder Masayoshi Son's aggressive commitments. SoftBank committed $64.6 billion for a 13% stake in Sam Altman's OpenAI, which contributed to a surge in its fiscal year earnings via $43.9 billion in unrealized paper gains. However, to fulfill its latest $30 billion commitment, SoftBank had to secure a $40 billion bridge loan due next March. Consequently, an imminent OpenAI IPO is critical for SoftBank to liquidate parts of its stake or obtain margin loans to repay its bankers and prevent write-downs of its paper profits if the IPO turns out to be a flop and drops below its latest $852 billion valuation.
To alleviate liquidity pressures, Masayoshi Son is exploring other funding channels, such as planning US IPOs for SB Energy Corp. and an AI and robotics company called Roze. However, these efforts face the hurdle of capital crowding by hyperscalers, who are exhausting global financing options by issuing debt overseas in Swiss francs, yen, euros, and Canadian dollars. Alphabet's equity offering might be a strategic move to preemptively shut down funding channels for unlisted rivals, meaning SoftBank and OpenAI will have to maneuver much harder to realize their IPO dreams in a market heavily dominated by mega-cap companies.