Why Did SoftBank Sell Nvidia for $3B? The $230B Mistake | Japan Stocks Explained
Why did SoftBank sell Nvidia for $3B — a stake now worth over $230 billion? Here's what the trade, the $64B OpenAI bet, and SoftBank stock mean for investors today. In 2019 SoftBank sold every Nvidia share for $3B; Masayoshi Son now calls it "the fish that got away."
This 8-minute deep dive answers:
▸ Why did SoftBank sell Nvidia at the worst possible time?
▸ Who is Masayoshi Son — and how did he survive the dotcom crash?
▸ What's the truth about WeWork's $14.3B writedown?
▸ How does the $64B OpenAI bet actually work (and where's the money coming from)?
▸ What is Stargate, and why does Trump care?
▸ Why is Son now Nvidia's biggest customer-of-customers?
🎯 On June 1, 2026, SoftBank overtook Toyota as Japan's most valuable company. Net income FY25: ¥5 trillion (+334%). Son has committed $64.6B to OpenAI, already booking a $45B unrealized gain. Stargate, the $500B AI infrastructure project with Trump, runs on 64,000 Nvidia GB200 GPUs.
📊 Tickers: 9984 (Tokyo / SoftBank Group) • SFTBY (US OTC ADR) • ARM (NASDAQ)
⏱ Chapters:
00:00 SoftBank Sold Nvidia for $3B — Why?
00:25 The Nvidia Trade Nobody Talks About (2017-2019)
01:20 Who Is Masayoshi Son?
02:19 The WeWork Disaster — $14.3B Wipeout
03:18 The $64B OpenAI Bet — How It's Funded
04:31 Stargate: $500B with Trump
05:32 The Nvidia Reunion — Jensen's Regret
06:37 Bottom Line — Was It Worth It?
⚠️ Educational only. Not financial advice. Always do your own research.
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#SoftBank #MasayoshiSon #OpenAI