Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to footer Move from the headline to the deeper picture with a discounted annual subscription. Move from the headline to the deeper picture with a discounted annual subscription. Founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son has held talks with senior figures in the UAE in recent weeks The fundraising effort is the latest in a series of AI bets by the Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son© Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Masayoshi Son is seeking to raise up to $100bn from Gulf investors, as the SoftBank founder hunts for fresh financial firepower to scale up a colossal AI bet that has already made him one of the technology’s biggest champions. Son has held discussions in recent weeks with senior figures, including in the United Arab Emirates, over the possible fundraising, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The fundraising effort is the latest in a series of buccaneering AI bets by the Japanese billionaire, including a $65bn investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
It also comes as a delay to OpenAI’s long-anticipated initial public offering, and fears over the scale of SoftBank’s exposure to the AI boom, have prompted some investors to reassess Son’s ability to plough more money into a technology he has hailed as revolutionary. As part of the possible Gulf fundraising, the SoftBank founder would use the money to set up a fund to buy companies and then use AI and other advanced technology to improve their operations, the people said. Roze, SoftBank’s robotics and physical AI business that Son hopes to take public at a lofty valuation, is expected to play a key role in this process.
There is no guarantee the talks with Gulf investors will be successful, the people added. In recent years, Gulf nations have deployed part of their vast wealth into the artificial intelligence sector to diversify their energy-dependent economies. Abu Dhabi, in particular, has emerged as one of the world’s biggest spenders on AI through vehicles such as the AI-focused fund MGX and AI holding company G42.
Representatives for both companies did not respond to requests for comment. Son remains one of the most controversial investors in technology, with an investment strategy that some regard as tantamount to gambling. The approach has occasionally resulted in eye-catching failures such as WeWork, which filed for bankruptcy in late 2023.
However, he has also enjoyed spectacular success, most notably with Alibaba, and has repeatedly reinvented SoftBank, first as a telecoms group and now as one of the world’s biggest backers of AI. Masayoshi Son, left, with Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI. The Japanese businessman’s AI investments include $65bn in the ChatGPT maker© Son has previously turned to Gulf investors to write large cheques to back his ambitions.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
