How SoftBank’s OpenAI Bet Could Benefit CEO Son

The “rough vibes” at OpenAI have gotten less choppy, allowing SoftBank boss Masayoshi Son to shed some personal financial risk in the company’s big OpenAI investment.

A little-noticed disclosure in SoftBank’s earnings report released Thursday said that Son no longer was on the hook for the roughly $1 billion personal guarantee he had pledged so a SoftBank-managed investment fund could invest tens of billions in OpenAI. But he retains a longstanding arrangement that enriches him personally if the investment fund does really well—which the OpenAI investment makes much more likely.