Trump seeks credit for Sprint jobs SoftBank touted earlier
Move will see creation of 5,000 jobs in customer care and sales
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump sought credit for Sprint Inc’s commitment to create or bring back 5,000 jobs that the carrier says are part of broader US hiring plans previously announced by Japan-based parent SoftBank Group Corp.
Trump said SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son was among those behind the move to add workers. The Japanese billionaire, who Trump calls “Masa,” said earlier this month that he intended to invest US$50bil in the US using a previously announced technology fund, creating 50,000 jobs.
“Because of what’s happening and the spirit and the hope I was just called by the head people at Sprint and they’re going to be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States,” Trump told reporters outside his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. “Masa and some other people were very much involved with that.”
The 5,000 jobs in Sprint’s plans are part of Son’s overall 50,000-job commitment, though they would be funded by Sprint and not SoftBank, the US carrier said.
The employment would be in customer care, sales and other functions, Sprint said in a statement. The company is still determining the location of the positions, which would be filled by the end of March 2018, Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint said.
Sprint had about 30,000 employees as of the end of March, down from 38,000 in 2013, when Son acquired the company.
Trump disputed the notion that the jobs had already been announced, telling reporters later yesterday that “I just spoke with the head person. He said because of me they’re doing 5,000 jobs in this country.” He referred reporters to his spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, for details. She didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Sprint didn’t respond to follow-up questions.
Son’s vow to invest in the US and create jobs helped provide Trump with evidence he’s producing more work for Americans.
It also scored points for Sprint, which was rebuffed by the Obama administration on a previous merger attempt.
Trump also repeated an announcement earlier this month that OneWeb Ltd, a satellite start-up backed by Son’s SoftBank Group Corp, will create almost 3,000 jobs in Florida over the next four years.
That number consists of about 1,200 jobs at OneWeb, plus about 1,800 jobs at suppliers that work directly with the start-up and include Qualcomm Inc, Hughes Network Systems and Honeywell International Inc, Greg Wyler, founder of OneWeb, said in an interview.
“Masa’s meeting with Trump invigorated and inspired Masa to increase investment in OneWeb and accelerate OneWeb’s growth,” Wyler said in an interview. In September, October and November, the US economy gained an average of 176,000 non-farm jobs a month, according to Bureau of Labour Statistics.
Sprint shares have more than doubled this year on improving subscriber gains and speculation that the company could revisit a long-speculated merger with T-Mobile US Inc, the third-largest wireless provider, under the Trump administration. — Bloomberg