SoftBank shares climbed 7.55% in Tokyo trading on July 26, pushing the company’s market capitalization above ¥43 trillion. Over the past week, the stock has gained more than 40%. The move was tied to two developments drawing investor attention: renewed expectations that OpenAI may be preparing an IPO filing, and SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy saying it plans to confidentially file for a US listing.
OpenAI listing hopes sharpen focus on valuation
Bloomberg reported that talk of a near-term OpenAI IPO filing has stirred the market because a public listing would subject the company’s valuation to open-market pricing for the first time. That matters in an AI sector where private funding rounds have largely set the headline numbers.
Takashi Nakagawa, a senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory, told Bloomberg that investors were “extremely excited” by the possibility that the long-awaited OpenAI IPO could be approaching. He also added a note of caution, saying the current share move is being driven purely by expectations and that he wants to see where OpenAI’s valuation ultimately settles.
SB Energy adds a second IPO-related catalyst
At the same time, SB Energy, SoftBank’s power generation and grid management unit, said it plans to confidentially seek a US IPO. The company has become a key piece of Masayoshi Son’s data center ambitions in the United States.
According to the report, SB Energy raised more than $1.8 billion over the past year from SoftBank, OpenAI, and asset manager Ares Management. With both OpenAI and SB Energy linked to possible listings, investors are reassessing assets inside SoftBank that have not yet been fully reflected in public-market pricing.
SoftBank’s OpenAI bet is large, but still untested in public markets
SoftBank is one of OpenAI’s largest shareholders and has committed nearly $65 billion in total investment. It is expected to secure about 13% of the ChatGPT developer by October this year. Last year, SoftBank also joined OpenAI’s record funding round of $122 billion, at a valuation of $850 billion.
A public listing would turn that holding from a private-market paper value into an asset priced by the market in real time. Bloomberg also noted that OpenAI has faced questions over competition from Anthropic, Google’s Gemini, and Elon Musk’s xAI. The latest rally suggests that IPO speculation has restored some investor confidence in OpenAI’s position. Still, the key disclosures are not out yet. OpenAI has not formally filed, and SB Energy’s process remains confidential, leaving revenue, losses, and operating details undisclosed.