Japanese tech billionaire pledges $50 billion for US

Japanese tech billionaire Masayoshi Son said on Tuesday in New York that he would invest $50 billion (46.6 billion euros) in new startups in the United States, and create 50,000 new jobs.

Son is founder and chief executive of SoftBank, a technology and communications entity which owns the US mobile carrier Sprint.

"We are going to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and commit to create 50,000 new jobs," Son told reporters. "We (will) invest into the new startup companies in the United States."

The Japanese businessman was at Trump Tower to celebrate Trump's election victory, he said "I just came to celebrate his new job," Son remarked. "Because he said he would do a lot of deregulation, I said, 'This is great, the US will become great again'."

The announcement on Tuesday appeared to be part of a previous commitment announced in October. SoftBank said then that it would establish a $25 billion fund for technology investments that could grow to $100 billion. The company said it signed an agreement with a fund run by the government of Saudi Arabia and other investors.

On Tuesday at Trump Tower, Son held a piece of paper that indicated SoftBank and Foxconn, the Taiwanese technology giant, "commit to invest $50bn + $7bn in US, generate 50k + 50k new jobs in US in next four years."

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Speaking to several thousand supporters in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Tuesday, Trump took credit for the investment. "Great guy of Japan. He's pledged that he's going to put $50 billion into the United States because of our victory," Trump said. "Fifty thousand jobs he's going to be investing in."

"We're going to defend American jobs," Trump told his supporters. "We have to look at it almost as a war."

"We are going to be good for the world not just good for our country. The script to what we're doing is not yet written," he said.

jm/bw (AP, AFP)