SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son spoke at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Tokyo on Friday, June 20, 2024. Son outlined his ambition to help develop AI thousands of times smarter than humans, in his most grandiose declaration since the Japanese conglomerate began taking steps to shore up its finances following a series of ill-timed investments in startups.
Kosuke Okahara | Bloomberg | Getty Images
SoftBank announced plans on Friday to issue euro- and dollar-denominated bonds to focus on paying down debt and investing in artificial intelligence.
The Japanese holding giant said it would issue two US dollar-denominated bonds worth about $900 million and two other bonds worth 900 million euros ($962.8 million), with interest rates ranging from 5.4% to 7% per annum.
SoftBank said it would use the funds to “repay debt and for general corporate purposes.”
The company’s shares closed up 2.5% on news of the bond offering.
The debt financing comes as SoftBank has had some successes, including an initial public offering for semiconductor design company Arm, and its overall financial losses have begun to narrow.
Meanwhile, the firm, which runs a large tech investment arm called the Vision Fund, has signaled it is also considering increasing investments in artificial intelligence companies.
SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son made a rare public appearance this month to discuss a concept he calls “artificial superintelligence,” or ASI, which he says is 10,000 times smarter than humans and which he expects to become reality within 10 years.
SoftBank appears to be looking to capitalize on improving investor sentiment toward the company, with its shares up 65% since the beginning of the year.