OpenAI partners’ $100bn debt pile

Good morning and welcome back. In today’s newsletter:

• OpenAI partners in debt spree to fund ChatGPT maker’s ambitions

• Dimon gave London tower go-ahead after UK assurances

• FC Barcelona faces backlash over Samoa crypto sponsorship

• How the housing crisis is pushing Gen Z into taking risky bets

We begin with OpenAI’s data centre partners, who are on course to amass almost $100bn in borrowing tied to the lossmaking start-up, as the ChatGPT maker benefits from a debt-fuelled spending spree without taking on financial risks itself.

What to know: SoftBank, Oracle and CoreWeave have borrowed at least $30bn to invest in OpenAI or help build its data centres, according to a Financial Times analysis. Blue Owl Capital and computing infrastructure companies such as Crusoe also rely on deals with the start-up to service about $28bn in loans.

A group of banks is in talks to lend another $38bn for Oracle and data centre builder Vantage to fund further sites for OpenAI, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: OpenAI executives have said they plan to raise substantial debt to help pay for these contracts, but so far the financial burden has fallen to its counterparties and their lenders.

“That’s been kind of the strategy,” said a senior OpenAI executive. “How does [OpenAI] leverage other people’s balance sheets?” Read the full story.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and this weekend:

• Economic data: France and Germany release preliminary November inflation data.

• US: Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, heralds the start of the American Christmas shopping season.

• UK: Your Party, the new political party founded by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, holds its first conference in Liverpool tomorrow.

• Opec+: Representatives from member countries meet on Sunday to decide on further oil production adjustments.

Join FT experts today at 1pm UK time to analyse how the autumn Budget will affect the UK economy. Register for your exclusive subscriber pass here.  

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon gave the go-ahead for a 3mn square-foot tower in London after a top adviser to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer flew to New York to offer assurances about the government’s business-friendly policies. Read the full story.

2. FC Barcelona faces a backlash after agreeing a sponsorship with a little-known crypto start-up registered in Samoa. Critics argue the deal highlights the heavily indebted Catalan football club’s desperation to raise revenue while potentially exposing its fans to financial risks. Josh Noble has the full report.

3. Investors are anticipating a “radical” shift away from long-term borrowing by the UK government, after Downing Street said it was considering selling more short-term Treasury bills. Read more on what a reliance on short-term gilts would mean.

4. Belgium’s prime minister has claimed that the rapid finalisation of an EU plan to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine would wreck the chances of a potential peace deal to end the almost four-year-long war. Here are Bart De Wever’s objections to the EU proposal.

5. A top private equity executive has warned his investors that the push to place buyout fund investments into the accounts of US retirement savers could lead to poor returns, risking financial crisis-like taxpayer bailouts. Read the critique from Olympus Partners founder Robert Morris.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our news quiz.

The Big Read

After turning into the world’s factory, China’s relentless efforts in research and development gave way to its becoming the world’s laboratory. This prowess has allowed it to compete with, and potentially beat, the west. Find out how Beijing is working to win the innovation race.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Thames Water: The terms of the rescue plan offered by the utility’s bondholders fall short, writes John Gapper. The industry regulator should insist on a better restructuring deal.

• South Africa: Accused of trafficking recruits to fight for Russia, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, Jacob Zuma’s daughter, is emerging as the heir apparent of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties.

• The Wolf-Krugman Exchange 🎧: Martin Wolf and Paul Krugman discuss how one year of US President Donald Trump has reshaped the world economy, democracy and capitalism.

• Winning the ‘Taco’ trade: Brazil’s pushback against Trump’s tariff threats offers lessons in dealing with White House policy, writes Gillian Tett.

Join senior FT editors on December 3 for a discussion on what will shape the year ahead. Register for free today.

Chart of the day

New evidence suggests that the unattainability of home ownership among Gen Z is prompting young people to resort to risky financial behaviour, writes John Burn-Murdoch.

Take a break from the news . . .

Few office blunders compare to leaking a Budget, but many employees can relate to the slip-up at the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility, writes Emma Jacobs. So how do you deal with workplace mistakes?