SoftBank shares plunged in Tokyo after reports that OpenAI may delay its public listing until 2027. For investors, the concern is simple: a later IPO could delay the market price discovery behind one of SoftBank's most important AI bets.
Bloomberg-syndicated reports and regional outlets said the stock fell as much as 13% as bankers warned that recent tech volatility could hurt appetite for a massive AI listing.
What happened
The New York Times reported that OpenAI is leaning toward waiting until next year for an IPO rather than forcing a 2026 debut into choppy markets. SoftBank, a major OpenAI backer, immediately became the public-market proxy for that delay risk.
Aju Press reported SoftBank was down 13.57% at 6,152 yen around 1:49 p.m. Tokyo time on June 26. Yahoo Finance, citing Bloomberg, said the decline reflected concern that OpenAI's listing could be pushed into 2027.
Why SoftBank OpenAI IPO matters
SoftBank's valuation has become closely tied to the market's faith in frontier AI. A public OpenAI listing would give investors a visible benchmark for a private stake that is otherwise hard to value.
If the IPO slips, investors may apply a larger conglomerate discount to SoftBank while they wait for proof that AI infrastructure spending can produce durable returns.
Market impact
The SoftBank drop fed directly into the broader Asia tech rout. Business Insider reported Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 4.2%, while South Korea's Kospi tumbled 5.8% in the same session.
Barron's also noted that OpenAI IPO fears weighed on Oracle and CoreWeave, showing the risk had spread beyond SoftBank into companies linked to AI cloud infrastructure.
Key numbers
- Aju Press reported SoftBank down 13.57% at 6,152 yen at 1:49 p.m. Tokyo time on June 26, 2026.
- Bloomberg-syndicated reports said SoftBank's planned OpenAI investment was slated to reach roughly $65 billion by October.