❯ SoftBank’s SB Energy targets a $5B-$7B IPO after handing OpenAI $5.5B in warrants

filing imminentSoftBank-controlled data center company SB Energy could make its IPO filing public as soon as this week, with bankers targeting a listing next month raising $5 billion to $7 billion, according to IPO documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The same documents disclose something sharper: to land OpenAI as a tenant, SB Energy issued it warrants valued at roughly $5.5 billion.

warrant termsThe warrants were valued at $3.6 billion when issued in January and $5.5 billion by the end of June, vesting in stages after the IPO as valuation milestones are hit, the filings show. OpenAI separately invested $500 million in SB Energy earlier this year and is expected to hold a single-digit stake post-listing. Put plainly: to sign one lease, the landlord handed the tenant equity approaching the size of the raise.

backstop chainThe Ohio campus’s ability to fund itself rests heavily on Nvidia, which backstops the project through a residual value guarantee, holds equity in SB Energy, and committed $3 billion across two private transactions tied to the IPO. Each party contributes one thing: SoftBank the assets, Nvidia the credit, OpenAI the tenancy itself.

pricing problemThe people sweating first are the underwriters pricing this listing. A data center company’s most valuable asset is a long-term anchor tenant — but this one cost $5.5 billion in warrants to acquire, rent has yet to land, and the dilution is already on the table. Investors need somewhere to book that customer acquisition cost.

▪ SIGNALA gigawatt was never the scarce asset — a tenant who signs a long lease is, and SB Energy just printed the price at $5.5 billion.