New York — Billionaire business tycoon Masayoshi Son has said he would invest $50bn in the US and create 50,000 jobs, a move president-elect Donald Trump claimed was a direct result of his election win. The investment revived speculation that US telecommunications giant Sprint, 82% owned by Son’s SoftBank Group, might rekindle merger talks with T-Mobile US. The talks had died under pressure from US regulators. But the lack of details on an investment timetable also prompted doubts about whether the promise of money and jobs would be met, as Sprint is slashing staff numbers to cut more than $2bn in costs in 2016. Trump’s moves since the election to engage with individual companies, while turning his back on broader, years-in-the-works trade deals, show that the president-elect is leaning on the deal-making skills he honed in the boardroom. Trump campaigned against the overregulation of business and is expected to be more open to mergers than President Barack Obama. The investment, an...
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