SoftBank Pledges $50 Billion Investment In U.S.

By Reina Ilagan

Dec 07, 2016 05:05 AM EST

Multinational telecommunications company SoftBank, pledged to invest $50 billion in the U.S. after its CEO Masayoshi Son had a private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York.

The investment is expected to create 50,000 new jobs, although details about the planned investment were not specified.

Mr. Trump took credit for the investment, claiming that his victory in the presidential election spurred the telecom mogul's decision.

Mr. Son said that he planned to invest into the startup companies in the United States. However, it would be difficult to create 50,000 jobs entirely from startups which generally employs few workers.

The $50 billion will come from a previously announced $100 billion international investment fund set up earlier this year with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

The company has already invested in Kansas-based company Sprint, which SoftBank has acquired in 2013 for $22 billion, and in the San Francisco-based online lender Social Finance Inc. as part of the $1 billion investment round last year.

Mr. Son originally planned on merging Sprint with German-owned T-Mobile US, but later abandoned the plan after regulators hinted on declining its approval. However, he may get a different response once Mr. Trump has taken his office and a new chairman is appointed to the Federal Communications Commission.

Mr. Son's investments are focused largely on tech and telecom ventures. His company has a large stake in China's Alibaba Group. It also bought ARM Holdings PLC, a U.K. chip designer, for $32 billion.

He is also known to talk straight to national leaders when it comes to plans for investment. He recently met with South Korean President Park Geun-hye for his intention to invest about $4.5 billion in the technology sector of the country. He also met with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi to talk about his interest to invest in the nation's tech startups and renewable energy projects.

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