3 years ago SoftBank's Masayoshi Son made a promise to Trump that he'd invest $50 billion and create 50,000 U.S. jobs. Forbes reached out to over 50 SoftBank-backed startups to see how far he's come. He's got 1 more year
... [+]Three years ago in the gilded lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, two ebullient billionaires stood in front of reporters and made big promises. One was Donald Trump, who just weeks prior had pulled an upset victory against Hillary Clinton to become president of the United States. The other was Masayoshi Son, billionaire founder and CEO of Japan’s SoftBank and executor of a newly formed $100 billion investment vehicle named the Vision Fund.
Trump had campaigned on the promise of bringing jobs back to America, and companies from Alibaba to Amazon pledged to do their part. Son, whose firm SoftBank owns telecom giant Sprint, had seen a merger with T-Mobile stall under the Obama administration over anti-competitive concerns. So on December 6, 2016, Son stood in the Trump Tower lobby to make his play. The Japanese billionaire could start over with Trump.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Masa of SoftBank of Japan and he has just agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and [create] 50,000 jobs,” then President-elect Trump said at the time. The promise, according to a sheet of paper that Masa held up in the building lobby, would be completed in four years’ time, coinciding with Trump’s first term in office.
Now, three years later, Son is close to the $50 billion mark, a year ahead of schedule. A SoftBank spokesperson says the Vision Fund and other SoftBank vehicles have poured $47 billion into the U.S. economy by way of investing in dozens of companies, from Silicon Valley darlings like messaging app Slack to food delivery service DoorDash. Nearly half, a reported $18.5 billion went to co-working startup WeWork.
Whether all that money has translated into the promised 50,000 jobs is difficult to determine. SoftBank would not provide an estimate of how many jobs it has created in the U.S. since Son’s pledgeBecause the majority of the Vision Fund’s investments have gone to private companies, public data is not available, making it hard to hold Son accountable for his promise. A recent move to cut costs among SoftBank’s biggest portfolio companies could put any known gains in jeopardy, as well.
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