Splashy jobs pledges: SoftBank's $100 billion and the Foxconn precedent
SoftBank promised $100 billion and 100,000 jobs with about $29 billion in cash on hand. The last big Trump factory promise shrank by more than 90 percent.
At Mar-a-Lago in December 2024, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son pledged $100 billion in U.S. investment and at least 100,000 jobs over four years. Reuters noted SoftBank had about $29 billion in cash in its latest earnings report. Son made a similar $50 billion, 50,000-job pledge in 2016; the money was eventually spent, but it is unclear whether the jobs were created.
In 2017 Trump announced a $10 billion Foxconn factory in Wisconsin that would employ 13,000 people. By 2021 Foxconn had revised the deal to $672 million and fewer than 1,500 jobs, and Wisconsin scaled back its tax incentives. Microsoft later bought land next to the site for a data center.
The receipts
Original reporting. Credit belongs to these outlets and authors; read the full stories at the source.
CNN byline on original
Trump and SoftBank CEO announce the company will invest $100 billion in US projectsAl Jazeera (with Reuters) byline on original
Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announce $100bn US investmentNBC News (as shared in our notes) byline on original
Foxconn plant once touted by Trump as 13,000-job juggernaut will be scaled back