Softbank CEO to invest $100B in U.S. under Trump administration

Masayoshi Son, CEO of the Japanese investment firm, appeared with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday in Palm Beach and vowed to invest $100 billion in the United States within the next four years. The investment will create at least 100,000 American jobs and ensure that artificial intelligence and other new technologies are built in the United States, Trump said at a press conference after meeting with Son. The Japanese businessman chose to double what he invested under the first Trump administration, saying his confidence in the American economy greatly increased after Trump’s election.

What is Softbank? Son founded the investing firm in the 1980s and earned a reputation for technology investment. The company sunk major investments into Silicon Valley startups around the internet boom, according to the Associated Press. Son’s 2012 $20 billion takeover of U.S. mobile phone carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. was Japan’s largest overseas acquisition at the time. The Tokyo-based firm’s risks don’t always pay off, as was the case when it sunk billions of dollars into the failed co-working space WeWork and the robot pizza company Zume. Son has remained an ally of Trump throughout both of his presidencies.

Dig deeper: Read Michael Cochrane’s report about Son’s 2014 launch of a cuddling robot.