SoftBank shares drop 50% from June peak amid rising AI financing risks

On October 22, 2026, SoftBank Group Corp. experienced a dramatic drop in its stock price and market capitalization, fueling growing market concerns over the sustainability of its massive investments in artificial intelligence. According to reports from Bloomberg Technology and Wall Street Watch, SoftBank shares fell 6.9% in a single day on Thursday, bringing its cumulative decline to 50% from its historical peak reached on June 2. The company's market value shrank to approximately 24.7 trillion yen, or roughly $157.0 billion, causing it to fall behind Hitachi and Recruit Holdings and ending its brief stint four months prior as Japan's largest company by market value ahead of Toyota Motor. SoftBank became the worst-performing stock on the Nikkei index for the month, dropping over 30% and erasing all gains accumulated since September. The immediate trigger for the sell-off was the slide of cloud provider CoreWeave's bonds into distressed territory, which exposed systemic financing risks across the AI infrastructure investment chain. Compounded by rising borrowing costs and a highly leveraged corporate structure, investor anxiety intensified, pushing SoftBank's credit default swap spreads to their highest level in nearly four years. Currently, market sentiment remains heavily pressured by the fallout from CoreWeave and broader worries regarding the financing mechanisms behind the AI boom.