Sprint parent company to invest $50B in U.S. startups
December 7, 2016 | Bobby Burch
The billionaire behind Sprint’s parent company plans to unload some serious investment capital in American startups.
After a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced that he plans to invest $50 billion in U.S. startups that will create tens of thousands of jobs in the next four years, according to the Associated Press. SoftBank purchased a majority of Overland Park-based Sprint in 2013 for $22 billion.
“We are going to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and commit to create 50,000 new jobs,” Son said. “We (will) invest into the new startup companies in the United States.”
While Trump appeared to take credit for the announcement, the prospective capital derives from a previously announced $100 billion fund. SoftBank in October announced that it partnered with a Saudi Arabian wealth fund to launch a $100 billion tech fund. The Wall Street Journal reports that SoftBank has poured more than $45 billion into tech investments alongside co-investors over the past two years. SoftBank owns more than 235 companies and more than 100 affiliates.
Son’s meeting with Trump sets the stage for what could be another attempt by SoftBank to acquire T-Mobile and merge it with Sprint. U.S. regulators thwarted that attempt in 2015, however, a Trump administration may be more open to the idea.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Report: KC startups driving quality job creation across metro
Young Kansas City businesses are substantial job creators for the area, according to a recent report from entrepreneurial resource hub KCSourceLink. In its recent “We Create Jobs” report, KCSourceLink found that new firms that employed fewer than 20 workers created 16,325 new jobs in 2016. And for the past five years, startups created an average…
CAPS put grads on top, alumni say
Education innovation is a growing industry in Kansas City. Leaders say it has grown tremendously within the past two years and will eventually impact the region’s talent pipeline. One of the metro’s trailblazing programs is Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies, CAPS. The program began in the Blue Valley School District in 2009 as…
KCMO to celebrate innovation partners at demo day
Since the publish date on Aug. 22, the location of the Innovation Partnership Program demo day has been changed. It will now be held at WeWork at Corrigan Station at 5:00 p.m. Five Kansas City startups are expected to be toasted next month with a demo day at a popular brewery. The Sept. 11 celebration…
Yes, another total solar eclipse photo gallery
Like tens of thousands of people near the “path of totality,” the Kansas City Startup Foundation team trekked northward Monday to bask in the rarity of a total solar eclipse. As you can see from the photos, it was a tad cloudy at Smithville Lake — about 40 miles southeast of the crowds in St.…