Softbank Group Corp founder and chief executive officer Masayoshi Son was planning to meet with US president-elect Donald Trump in New York yesterday, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Son, 59, has no specific agenda but wants to meet Trump as an investor in the US, including in wireless operator Sprint Corp, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Shares in Softbank rose on the news, climbing 2.5 percent to ¥6,975 (US$61.26) in Tokyo, their highest since Aug. 31.
The Japanese billionaire is in the process of raising a US$100 billion investment fund and is interested in putting some of the money into the US, the person said.
Son made his fortune from investments in Japan and China, but has had a mixed record in the US.
Softbank bought control of Sprint in 2013 only to see it lose ground to rivals including T-Mobile US Inc. Son’s attempt to engineer a merger between the No. 3 and No. 4 wireless players was rebuffed by US President Barack Obama’s administration, but a new government might have a different take on communications policy.
As he prepares to take office on Jan. 20, Trump has picked several well-known figures from the world of finance for key administration posts, including former Goldman Sachs Group Inc partner Steven Mnuchin as US secretary of the treasury and investor Wilbur Ross as US secretary of commerce.
The president-elect has met with numerous other business leaders at Trump Tower in New York, including Marion Blakey, chief executive officer of Rolls-Royce North America Inc, and Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television.
Yesterday, Trump was scheduled to meet with Exxon-Mobil Corp chief executive officer Rex Tillerson, who is said to be under consideration for US secretary of state.
Son said last week during a trip to India that he is close to tying up the US$100 billion for a technology fund that Softbank announced with the government of Saudi Arabia. Softbank and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund unveiled the new venture in October with the Japanese company saying it would invest US$25 billion, while Saudi Arabia committed US$45 billion.
The two have been talking to other investors for the remaining US$30 billion.
When plans for the fund were first announced, Son said that he planned on being the biggest investor in technology over the next decade.
“I am talking to a few investors and I think we are oversubscribed,” Son said at an event in New Delhi on Friday, without providing details.
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