Market Chatter: Apollo Global Weighs Boosting SoftBank Loan to $9 Billion for OpenAI Investment

04:31 AM EDT, 09/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Apollo Global Management (APO) is in discussions with SoftBank to increase the size of a loan to $9 billion from $5.4 billion to support the Japanese company's investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The size of the loan, which is backed by assets in SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, a venture capital fund, has not been confirmed, the media outlet added, citing people familiar with the matter. Apollo originally provided the net-asset-value loan to Vision Fund 2 in 2021 and increased the facility by $900 million last year to $5.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. SoftBank said earlier this year that it is committing a total of $64.6 billion to invest in OpenAI in exchange for a roughly 13% ownership interest, as bets on AI continue to gain pace globally. Apollo did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request. SoftBank declined to comment. (Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)