SoftBank Group's stock fell 12% on Thursday after reports that OpenAI may push back its public debut, according to Bloomberg's Aya Wagatsuma. The slide marked one of the company's biggest intraday drops, MoneyControl reported.
The trigger was a New York Times report, cited by Reuters and others, that OpenAI is considering delaying its initial public offering until next year — with several outlets, including TradingView and Business Standard, suggesting the company is leaning toward waiting until 2027. According to the New York Times, bankers advising OpenAI cautioned that volatility in tech stocks could dampen enthusiasm for an offering.
Why does this hit SoftBank so hard? The Japanese technology investor's shares have rallied to record highs in recent months, driven largely by expectations that an OpenAI listing would unlock significant value from its stake, CNBC-TV18 reported. A delay removes that anticipated windfall from the near-term horizon.
OpenAI has confidentially filed for a US IPO and is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, according to Business Standard. The startup and rival Anthropic have been racing to reach Wall Street as soon as this year, partly to attract public-market investors and help fund their heavy spending on chips and data centers, Bloomberg reported.
Several outlets, including Benzinga and Barron's, tied the reconsideration to SpaceX's rough performance after its own recent listing — a cautionary example weighing on sentiment around high-profile tech debuts.
Why it matters: SoftBank's tumble shows how deeply ordinary investors' fortunes are now tied to a single private company's IPO timing, and how quickly enthusiasm for the AI boom can reverse on a report.