New York (AFP) – President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday Japan’s SoftBank has agreed to invest $50 billion in business and job-creation in the United States.
Trump made the announcement on Twitter as he met with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son in New York, later striding into the lobby of Trump Tower to brief reporters in person.
“This is Masa of SoftBank from Japan and he’s just agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs,” he told reporters, with his arm around Son.
The Republican provided no details on the precise nature of the investments or how they would create jobs.
Standing in the lobby of Trump Tower, Son brandished a document featuring the names of SoftBank and of Foxconn, the Taiwanese technology giant, that read: “Commit to invest $50bn + $7bn in US, generate 50k + 50k new jobs in US in next four years.”
“I just came to celebrate his new job,” Son said of the president-elect.
“Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!” the president-elect tweeted.
While Trump took credit, Son told the Wall Street Journal in an interview the money will come from a $100 billion investment fund he is setting up with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and other partners, a move announced in mid-October.
The 59-year-old Japanese billionaire, who has said he wants to become the Warren Buffet of the tech industry, plans to use the SoftBank Vision Fund to invest heavily in the “Internet of Things,” artificial intelligence and robotics, the Journal reported.
SoftBank already has investments in the United States: in 2013 it paid $22 billion for 80 percent of Sprint. Son initially set his sights on a merger with T-Mobile, but that plan was abandoned due to likely opposition from US regulators. The Journal said Son declined to comment on whether he plans to make another try to join the two telecom firms.
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