SoftBank's Market Value Surpasses Toyota, Becoming Japan's Highest-Valued Company
Alina Collins
SoftBank's market cap hit ¥46 trillion, surpassing Toyota for the first time in over two decades; the drivers are OpenAI's looming IPO and Arm's doubling stock price.
How did SoftBank reclaim Japan's top market-cap spot?
SoftBank shares surged over 8% intraday on Monday, pushing its market cap to ¥46 trillion (roughly $289 billion) — past Toyota's approximately ¥45 trillion.
The last time SoftBank outranked Toyota was March 2000, the peak of the dot-com bubble.
This means → after more than two decades, Japan's most valuable company is no longer a carmaker — it's an AI investor.
Why did earnings suddenly explode?
Net profit in Q1 2026 reached ¥1.82 trillion (about $11.4 billion) — 3.5 times the year-ago figure.
The core driver: AI assets SoftBank bet on years ago are now converting into realized returns.
In plain terms = the money SoftBank burned in earlier rounds is finally showing up as profit on the income statement.
How big is the OpenAI bet?
SoftBank completed a $10 billion investment in OpenAI in April and has pledged another $20 billion this year.
Once fully deployed, its total commitment to OpenAI will reach roughly $65 billion.
This reflects a move well beyond financial investing — SoftBank is binding itself to OpenAI at a scale closer to a strategic merger.
What does OpenAI's IPO mean for SoftBank?
The Wall Street Journal reports OpenAI plans to file for an IPO, targeting a U.S. listing as early as September.
Some reports say OpenAI is seeking to raise $60 billion at debut, at a valuation that could exceed $1 trillion — potentially the largest IPO in history.
This means → if the listing succeeds, SoftBank's OpenAI stake shifts from paper gains to a publicly priced asset — and that repricing is exactly what investors are front-running now.
Does Arm's rally matter too?
SoftBank acquired British chip-design firm Arm in 2016 and still holds roughly 90% of its shares.
Since early April, Arm's stock price has more than doubled.
Put simply = SoftBank holds two trump cards — OpenAI and Arm. Both rallied at the same time, and that is what pushed its market cap past Toyota's in one move.
With the stock up this much, what signal is the market sending?
Since early April, SoftBank shares have risen approximately 120%.
The market's core pricing assumption: OpenAI's IPO will land smoothly at a trillion-dollar-plus valuation.
This reflects a stock price that already embeds the best-case scenario — if the IPO timeline slips or the valuation falls short, the pullback pressure will be equally large.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.