In a Monday joint appearance with President-Elect Donald Trump, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son announced plans to invest $100 billion in U.S. businesses and create at least 100,000 new domestic jobs.
The brief press event was heavy on mutual praise and relatively scant on investment details.
Trump began by praising Son as “one of the most successful investors in the world” and described the commitment as “a monumental demonstration of confidence in America’s future.” He said the investment will help ensure that artificial intelligence and other “industries of tomorrow” will be built and grown in the U.S.
Son returned the praise by saying he is celebrating Trump’s election win and that his “confidence level for the economy of the United States has tremendously increased because of his victory.”
He added that his hope is that “President Trump will bring the world into peace again.”
SoftBank’s commitment is a repeat performance — albeit on a 2x scale — of a 2016 deal Son made after meeting with Trump following his first election victory. At the time, SoftBank agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S., with an eye to creating 50,000 jobs.
SoftBank began scaling up its startup investment activity considerably in 2017, with its groundbreaking SoftBank Vision Fund. The fund aimed to invest $100 million in startups globally. A couple years later, SoftBank followed up with Vision Fund II.
Mixed results
As we’ve chronicled previously, SoftBank’s investments are a mix of hits and misses, including many iconic names. It led rounds for a number of startups that have had a transformative role in their industries, including Uber, Slack and DoorDash. However, SoftBank also plowed capital into heavily hyped companies that have since shuttered or filed for bankruptcy, including WeWork, Zume and Katerra.
This time around, Son is making his commitment during a period in which U.S. startup investment remains well below the 2021 peak. However, funding is off its lows, boosted in large part by investors’ embrace of artificial intelligence startups.
Trump, closing out the joint appearance, pushed Son to double his planned investment to $200 billion. Son did not promise to do so but also did not rule it out, saying he would “try to make it happen.”
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Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
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