Trump: SoftBank to add $50B, 50K jobs in U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO — Telecommunications giant SoftBank Group plans to invest $50 billion into the U.S. economy, and add 50,000 jobs, president-elect Donald Trump announced in New York Tuesday.
Trump made the announcement over Twitter after meeting with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son for 45 minutes at Trump Tower. The Japanese company has a majority stake in Sprint, whose plans to merge with rival T-Mobile were thwarted by the Obama Administration.
Son’s summit with Trump is very likely to rekindle the possibility of a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, says wireless analyst Chetan Sharma. “Today’s visit is just groundwork for an inevitable deal,” Sharma says. “Son has a strong interest in pursuing the merger.”
Son did not say what specific investments SoftBank would make, though he told the Wall Street Journal they would be part of a previously announced $100 billion tech investment fund.
“We were talking about it, and then I said I’d like to celebrate his presidential job,” Son said during an impromptu press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, in apparent reference to Trump's vow of deregulation.
SoftBank spokesman Matthew Nicholson declined to comment.
Sprint (S) shares rallied as much as 7%, to $8.61, hitting a new 52-week high, before ending 1.5% higher. T-Mobile shares rose 1.8%.
In his unlikely march to the White House, Trump tirelessly campaigned on bringing more jobs to America, particularly in manufacturing regions hit hard by the recession and globalization. He took swings at companies like Apple for making most of their products outside the U.S.
SoftBank is the second high-profile accord he’s landed to underscore his message to voters. Last week, Trump announced a controversial deal to keep furnace manufacturer Carrier from outsourcing about 1,100 jobs to Mexico. Carrier will get $7 million in state tax incentives to keep the jobs in Indiana.
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The name of SoftBank isn't a household word in the U.S., but its holdings are vast.
Son, who became a billionaire through investments in Japan and China, is in the midst of raising a $100 billion investment fund with Saudi Arabia and others.
He's had mixed results in the U.S. since SoftBank bought what is now an 80% stake in Sprint for $21.6 billion, and lost ground to telecom rivals such as T-Mobile.
SoftBank also plunked down $32 billion this year to acquire ARM Holdings, a U.K.-based chip designer that makes parts for Apple's best-selling iPhone and other products.
Apple asked Asian-based manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron in June to explore the possibility of manufacturing the popular smartphone in the U.S., according to a report in financial magazine Nikkei Asian Review, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Apple wouldn't comment.
Son's handpicked successor, former Google executive Nikesh Arora, who joined in 2014 as head of its Silicon Valley Internet and media investment arm, abruptly left the Japanese tech giant in July. Son said at the time he planned to stay on for another five to 10 years.
Arora had been criticized by investors for start-up investments as debt from the 2013 Sprint acquisition and slowing profit growth hampered SoftBank.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn in San Francisco.