OpenAI has been reported to be negotiating a new round of financing with an astonishing valuation of $500 billion, directly driving SoftBank's stock price to a historic high, with an approximate increase of 75% this year. This article is based on a piece written by Wall Street Journal, organized, translated, and authored by Foresight News. (Background: A comprehensive overview of the OpenAI GPT-5 launch: free access, feature highlights, gpt-5, gpt-5-mini, and gpt-5-nano API pricing) (Supplementary background: OpenAI's open-source weight model GPT-OSS: How does Apache 2.0 crown developers? CoT thinking chains unlock security sovereignty) The Vision Fund 2 is facing a massive loss of $22 billion, yet the soaring valuation of OpenAI has helped SoftBank's stock price reach new heights, with Masayoshi Son once again staging a dramatic comeback from the brink of crisis. On Tuesday, SoftBank Group's stock price hit a historic high of 14,825 yen, with the company's market value reaching $146 billion, and its stock price has cumulatively risen about 75% this year. All of this can be attributed to Masayoshi Son's gamble on OpenAI. On August 12, according to a report from The Information, OpenAI is negotiating with investors, including Thrive Capital, to sell employee equity, with the company's valuation reaching $500 billion—doubling the valuation from the most recent round. This valuation leap has nearly doubled SoftBank's previous investment value of $9.7 billion in OpenAI, which is crucial for offsetting the Vision Fund 2's cumulative investment loss of up to $22 billion. A high-leverage gamble The performance of SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 has been incredibly poor. Since its inception in 2019, the fund has accumulated a loss of $22 billion across investments in 280 different companies, accounting for nearly one-third of its invested capital. However, the investment in OpenAI is expected to rewrite this situation. SoftBank's investment in OpenAI has employed its typical 'Masayoshi Son-style' high-leverage approach. Reports indicate that SoftBank acquired shares in OpenAI through complex financial maneuvers—the Vision Fund 2 borrowed billions of dollars from SoftBank itself, while SoftBank borrowed from Japanese banks. At the same time, the fund also secured billions of dollars in loans from private lending institution Apollo, which will receive priority repayment. Bigger bets are yet to come. SoftBank is expected to invest an additional $22.5 billion in OpenAI before the end of this year, with the deal locked in when OpenAI's valuation was $260 billion. If the deal goes through, SoftBank could hold up to 12% of OpenAI. This also means that SoftBank may have already made a profit before investing this capital, but this requires OpenAI to complete its transition to a profit-making structure. It is still unclear whether this $22.5 billion in future equity will reside on the Vision Fund 2's balance sheet or SoftBank Group's balance sheet. SoftBank executives have stated that no decision has been made, but this choice will directly affect the investment returns of SoftBank's shareholders and Masayoshi Son personally. Masayoshi Son's 'personal gamble' Unlike the first Vision Fund, Vision Fund 2 has no external investors involved. After the fund failed to raise external capital, Masayoshi Son secured a 17.25% stake for himself. This arrangement deeply ties his personal wealth to the fund's performance. Japanese public records show that Masayoshi Son also pledged approximately 9 million shares of SoftBank stock he personally holds as collateral for loans. However, according to the fund's terms, he cannot receive any distributions until the fund's realized and unrealized value exceeds 30% of the investment cost. Considering the fund is currently still in serious loss, this remains a distant goal. Masayoshi Son's personal stock arrangement has raised concerns about corporate governance. David Gibson, a stock analyst at MSFT Financial, stated to the media that this arrangement reduces the potential returns that SoftBank's shareholders might derive from the OpenAI investment, saying, "From a corporate governance perspective, this is a disaster." The high concentration risk under the shadow of WeWork This massive investment also puts SoftBank once again at risk of high concentration. If the additional investment goes through, OpenAI could account for 34% of the total size of Vision Fund 2. This inevitably recalls SoftBank's disastrous investment in WeWork a few years ago. After that, the fund's financial officer promised to ensure that the fund would not be "overly concentrated." Now, it seems SoftBank is betting heavily on a single star project once again. Currently, this investment is heading toward a significant victory. But as the report points out, it could also end in a similar tragedy. Related reports OpenAI collaborates with Oracle to build a 4.5 GW data center; Interstellar Gateway AI total computing power exceeds 5 GW. OpenAI launches 'ChatGPT Agent'! Integrating Operator and Deep Research: handling ticket purchases, food delivery, and writing presentations with ease. OpenAI is rumored to launch AI version of Office software, going head-to-head with Microsoft and Google. "Gambling on OpenAI, Masayoshi Son has flipped the script again." This article was first published on BlockTempo (the most influential blockchain news media).