SoftBank sells all of its Nvidia shares for $5.83B: Report
32.1M shares sold in October, CNBC reports
ISTANBUL
SoftBank announced Tuesday that it sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.83 billion, as the Japanese company is attempting to profit from its "all in" wager on OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, CNBC reported.
About 32.1 million shares of the US chip company were sold in October, according to SoftBank’s quarterly report. Additionally, SoftBank said it sold a portion of its T-Mobile ownership for $9.17 billion.
“We want to provide a lot of investment opportunities for investors, while we can still maintain financial strength,” said SoftBank’s Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto, according to CNBC.
“So through those options and tools we make sure that we are ready for funding in a very safe manner,” he said, adding that the shares were part of the company’s “asset monetization" strategy.
The sale of Nvidia shares, the partial selling of T-Mobile shares, and the margin loan on SoftBank's stake in Arm are all "sources of cash that will be used to fund the $22.5 billion investment in OpenAI," a source familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The source said the money will be used to finance other initiatives, such as the purchase of ABB's robotics division.
Recent worries about AI valuations had nothing to do with the sale of Nvidia stock, according to the source.
The Tokyo-based firm is engaged in several AI projects that use Nvidia's technology, including a $500 billion Stargate project for US data centers.
Nvidia shares dipped more than 2% after the announcement.
