SoftBank Greenlights Remaining $22.5 Billion of OpenAI Investment

SoftBank has taken the next step to complete its gargantuan $30 billion investment in OpenAI.

The Japanese conglomerate’s board has approved a second installment of $22.5 billion on that investment, as long as the artificial intelligence startup completes a corporate restructuring that would pay the way for an eventual public offering, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The approval signals SoftBank’s expectation that OpenAI will succeed in that effort, through which it will become a public benefit corporation.

The money will fill out a $41 billion total financing round into the ChatGPT maker led by Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank. As part of the terms of its investment in the round—which values OpenAI at $260 billion before the financing—SoftBank told shareholders in April that it could slash its planned investment if OpenAI didn’t complete the restructuring by year-end or early next year.