By TOI Business Desk
Publication Date: 2025-12-02 14:03:00
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son revealed that he “was crying” when he sold the company’s stake in Nvidia, highlighting how reluctant he was to part with the fast-rising chipmaker. This emotional exit raises a key question — what compelled Japan’s second-richest man to give up the shares despite not wanting to?Speaking at the FII Priority Asia forum in Tokyo on Monday, Son addressed SoftBank’s November disclosure that it had sold its full Nvidia holding for $5.83 billion. He said that the move was driven purely by the need to raise capital for AI investments and not lack of confidence in Nvidia.
He acknowledged the emotional difficulty of the sale and stressed that the shares would not have been offloaded if SoftBank did not need the money.“I don’t want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest in OpenAI and other projects,” Son said during the event, as cited by CNBC. “I was crying to sell Nvidia shares.”His comments reflect the explanation provided by analysts and SoftBank executives in November, when they described the sale as part of broader efforts to bolster the SoftBank Vision Fund’s cash resources for AI. SoftBank has intensified its focus on artificial intelligence this year through a series of projects, including plans for Stargate Project data centres and the acquisition of US chip designer Ampere Computing.
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