SoftBank Breaks Record With $11.1 Billion Junk Bond Sale to Bankroll OpenAI Expansion

SoftBank Group Corp. completed the largest high-yield corporate bond offering on record, raising $11.1 billion at yields exceeding any the company has offered before, signaling how heavily founder Masayoshi Son is betting the conglomerate's future on artificial intelligence. The Tokyo-based technology and financial services giant issued $10 billion in dollar-denominated notes across three maturities—$1 billion priced at 8.625% for 3.5-year bonds, $4.5 billion at 9.25% for 5.5-year bonds, and $4.5 billion at 9.75% for 7.5-year securities—along with €1.1 billion in euro-denominated bonds. The record yields reflect both SoftBank's appetite for debt and the rising cost of capital in an AI-hungry market.