MW After report of OpenAI missing targets, one company sees its worst share-price decline in six months
By Steve Goldstein
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (L) and SoftBank group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son shake hands during a talk session in Tokyo on February 3, 2025. SoftBank shares slumped on Tuesday.
SoftBank Group shares tumbled in Tokyo trade on Tuesday, suffering its worst single-day percentage loss in six months, after a published report that OpenAI missed several internal targets in the face of competition from rival artificial-intelligence labs.
SoftBank stock (JP:9984) closed 9.9% lower in Tokyo trade, its worst day since Nov. 25. and the worst-performing component of the Nikkei 225 JP:NIK, after the Wall Street Journal reported that ChatGPT maker OpenAI missed several goals - for active users, yearly revenue and monthly revenue.
The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said Google's Gemini has eaten OpenAI market share while Anthropic has gained ground in coding and enterprise markets.
SoftBank is one of the companies that the hedge fund Coatue puts in the "OpenAI complex" that also includes Nvidia (NVDA), Oracle, Advanced Micro Devices $(AMD)$, Microsoft and CoreWeave (CRWV) due to their business relationships with the ChatGPT maker.
Microsoft $(MSFT)$, the largest shareholder in OpenAI, on Monday scaled back an OpenAI partnership, as a high-stakes trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI opened in San Francisco.
SoftBank has an 11% stake in OpenAI and also has made separate investments in AI data centers, making it essentially the purest play on OpenAI's success or failure. Last week, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank was seeking a $10 billion loan secured by its OpenAI stake.
"As [OpenAI] inches toward a potential IPO, the company now faces a convergence of risks that could significantly complicate its path to public markets: missed internal targets, intensifying global competition, and a high-stakes lawsuit that could reshape its very structure," said Christophe Barraud, head of discretionary management and research at Lior Global Partners.
-Steve Goldstein
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2026 03:42 ET (07:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments