Trump announces SoftBank will add 50,000 U.S. jobs
Meeting with CEO could rekindle Sprint, T-Mobile merger talk
Telecommunication giant SoftBank Group plans to invest $50 billion into the U.S. economy, and add 50,000 jobs, President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday.
He 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, wireless analyst Chetan Sharma says. “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 at an impromptu news conference in the Trump Tower’s lobby.
Sprint shares rallied as much as 7%, to $8.61, hitting a 52-week high, before ending 1.5% higher. T-Mobile shares rose 1.8%.
In his unlikely march to the White House, Trump campaigned on bringing more jobs to America, particularly in regions hit hard by the recession and globalization. He took swings at companies such as Apple for making most of their products outside the USA.
SoftBank is the second highprofile 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.
The name of SoftBank isn’t a household word in the USA, 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 fund with Saudi Arabia and others.
He’s had mixed results in the USA 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 plunked down $32 billion this year to acquire ARM Holdings, a U.K.-based chip designer that makes parts for Apple’s iPhone and other products.