The Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group has completed a $41 billion investment in the AI startup OpenAI, reports CNBC. This marks one of the largest private funding rounds in history.
The firm’s stake in the creator of ChatGPT now stands at 11%.
The investment in OpenAI is part of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s strategy to position the company as a leader in the artificial intelligence market. The Asian entity was among the early investors in Nvidia but sold its entire stake for $5.8 billion in November.
SoftBank initially invested $7.5 billion in OpenAI in April, gathering an additional $11 billion from co-investors. By the end of December, the company directed another $22.5 billion to the startup.
Media reports suggest that Sam Altman’s team is preparing for a public listing with a valuation of $1 trillion. Reuters sources anticipate the filing in the second half of 2026.
A successful IPO would be a significant achievement for the startup’s investors, including Thrive Capital, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and Microsoft. The latter has invested a total of $13 billion in OpenAI; at a $1 trillion valuation, Microsoft’s stake would reach $270 billion.
Advertising in ChatGPT
Simultaneously, OpenAI is exploring ways to monetize its vast free user base, which has reached 900 million people per week. According to The Information, the company is developing advertising models, aiming to make them unobtrusive.
Several integration formats are under consideration:
- contextual recommendations: when users seek advice (for example, on choosing cosmetics), the AI could suggest partner products;
- delayed display: ad blocks might appear in a sidebar or during the second stage of a conversation, once the user is engaged.
Currently, only about 5% of active users have a paid subscription. Introducing ads would allow revenue generation from the rest.
The gross margin from this initiative is expected to be comparable to Meta’s (80–85%), with total revenue from the free segment potentially reaching $110 billion by 2030. This would help cover the operational costs of running AI models.
Altman had described advertising as a “last resort,” but in October he softened his stance, stating he finds it “unpleasant but possible.” The company is already hiring marketing industry veterans and developing commercial features like integration with Shopify and the payment system Stripe.
Back in November, experts concluded that the developer of ChatGPT might still be spending more on inference than it earns.