攜手富士康？軟銀承諾在美投資500億美元

The brash and outspoken founder of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, has long been known for his outsize ambitions, from taking on the United States’ biggest telephone companies to creating a $100 billion fund for technology deals.

非常自信、直言不諱的軟銀(SoftBank)創(chuàng)始人孫正義(Masayoshi Son)一向以雄心過(guò)人聞名，他曾與美國(guó)最大的電信公司競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，而且還創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)1000億美元的科技交易基金。

On Tuesday, Mr. Son, a Japanese mogul, struck another big pledge after meeting with President-elect Donald J. Trump: to invest $50 billion in the United States, a move that he said would create some 50,000 jobs.

本周二，日本大亨孫正義在與候任總統(tǒng)唐納德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)見(jiàn)面后，又許下了一個(gè)重大承諾：在美國(guó)投資500億美元，他說(shuō)此舉將創(chuàng)造約5萬(wàn)個(gè)工作崗位。

But the $50 billion investment pledge is not an entirely new initiative that SoftBank is undertaking. Instead, the money is projected to come from the Japanese company’s previously announced Vision fund, a $100 billion vehicle for investing in technology companies worldwide.

但是這500億美元的投資承諾并不是軟銀的一個(gè)全新舉動(dòng)。實(shí)際上，這筆錢計(jì)劃來(lái)自于軟銀之前宣布推出的Vision基金，它擁有1000億美元資金，用來(lái)投資全球各地的科技公司。

The fund — which includes Saudi Arabia, a target of Mr. Trump’s ire during the presidential campaign, as a key partner — was always expected to strike a significant portion of its deals in the United States.

該基金一直以來(lái)都打算把重點(diǎn)放在對(duì)美國(guó)的投資上，沙特阿拉伯是該基金的一個(gè)重要伙伴，特朗普在總統(tǒng)競(jìng)選期間曾把沙特當(dāng)作一個(gè)泄憤的靶子。

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Son said the new jobs would come from investing in American start-ups. Mr. Trump later declared on Twitter, “Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!”

孫正義周二對(duì)記者說(shuō)，新工作崗位將來(lái)自于他們對(duì)美國(guó)初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的投資。特朗普后來(lái)在Twitter上宣布，“正義說(shuō)，如果我們(特朗普)沒(méi)有贏得選舉，他永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)這樣做!”

Mr. Son’s visit to Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday was the latest outreach by global business leaders to an incoming president seen as friendlier to corporate interests. On Friday, the Trump transition team announced the formation of a business advisory group, led by Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chief executive of the private equity behemoth the Blackstone Group, that would consult monthly with the Trump White House.

孫正義周二對(duì)曼哈頓特朗普大廈的拜訪，是全球商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖對(duì)未來(lái)總統(tǒng)的最新示好，一些人認(rèn)為特朗普對(duì)企業(yè)利益更加有益。上周五，特朗普過(guò)渡團(tuán)隊(duì)宣布組建一個(gè)商業(yè)咨詢小組，由私募股權(quán)投資巨頭黑石集團(tuán)(Blackstone Group)首席執(zhí)行官蘇世民(Stephen A. Schwarzman)擔(dān)任領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，在特朗普任內(nèi)每月與白宮開(kāi)展討論。

The advisory group was noticeably shy of technology names; Mr. Son is perhaps the most prominent tech executive so far to have met with the president-elect.

咨詢小組里沒(méi)有什么科技業(yè)大牌;孫正義可能是迄今為止與特朗普見(jiàn)過(guò)面的最有名的科技高管。

Although it has its headquarters in Japan, SoftBank has deep roots in the United States. It is the majority owner of the wireless operator Sprint, which two years ago unsuccessfully pursued a takeover bid for T-Mobile. That effort was effectively blocked by the Obama administration on antitrust grounds.

軟銀雖然總部設(shè)在日本，但在美國(guó)有深厚的根基。它擁有無(wú)線運(yùn)營(yíng)商Sprint的大多數(shù)股權(quán)，Sprint兩年前試圖收購(gòu)T-Mobile未果。奧巴馬政府以反托拉斯為由對(duì)收購(gòu)進(jìn)行了阻攔。

Mr. Son was not expected to discuss specific issues with Mr. Trump during their meeting, including the prospects of renewing a Sprint bid for its rival, according to a person briefed on the matter. Shares of Sprint and T-Mobile briefly rose Tuesday afternoon, before giving up their gains.

據(jù)一個(gè)了解內(nèi)情的人說(shuō)，沒(méi)人預(yù)計(jì)孫正義在與特朗普會(huì)面的時(shí)候會(huì)討論具體問(wèn)題，包括重啟Sprint對(duì)T-Mobile的收購(gòu)。這兩家公司的股價(jià)周二下午短暫上漲，之后回吐了漲幅。

Beyond what Mr. Trump and Mr. Son said, “we aren’t able to say more,” a SoftBank spokesman in Tokyo, Matthew Nicholson, said.

除了特朗普和孫正義自己的說(shuō)法，“我們無(wú)法透露更多情況，”軟銀在東京的發(fā)言人馬修·尼克爾森(Matthew Nicholson)說(shuō)。

“I just came to celebrate his new job,” Mr. Son, 59, told reporters at Trump Tower. “I said: ‘This is great. The U.S. will become great again.’ ”

“我只是來(lái)慶賀他獲得了新工作，”59歲的孫正義告訴特朗普大廈的記者。“我說(shuō)：‘這很棒。美國(guó)將會(huì)再度偉大。’”

Such bold talk is customary from the American-educated Mr. Son, who has built one of Japan’s biggest personal fortunes through sometimes brash deal-making. SoftBank, which began life as a software distributor, became one of Japan’s biggest phone service companies through shrewd negotiations that gave the company early exclusive rights to the iPhone. It has since become a global empire with stakes in the likes of Sprint and Alibaba Group of China and in a welter of start-ups in the United States and abroad.

在美國(guó)接受教育的孫正義很習(xí)慣這種夸張的說(shuō)法，他通過(guò)商業(yè)交易成為了日本最大的富豪之一，其中一些交易很大膽。軟銀最初是一家軟件經(jīng)銷商，通過(guò)精明的談判成為日本最大的電信服務(wù)公司之一，早年擁有iPhone的專賣權(quán)?，F(xiàn)在軟銀已經(jīng)成為一個(gè)全球性的帝國(guó)，擁有Sprint、中國(guó)阿里巴巴集團(tuán)，以及美國(guó)和其他國(guó)家各種初創(chuàng)公司的股份。

This year, Mr. Son struck a $32 billion takeover of ARM Holdings, a British chip designer whose products sit at the heart of devices like the iPhone.

今年，孫正義斥資320億美元收購(gòu)了英國(guó)芯片設(shè)計(jì)公司ARM Holdings。該公司的產(chǎn)品是iPhone等設(shè)備的核心組件。

Like the president-elect, Mr. Son has been known for sometimes impolitic remarks. As Mr. Son sought to compete against Verizon and AT&T with his investment in Sprint, he compared the quality of American wireless service to the air quality of Beijing. And he threatened to set himself on fire in the offices of Japan’s telecommunications regulator on at least one occasion.

就像特朗普一樣，孫正義有時(shí)也表現(xiàn)得言語(yǔ)失當(dāng)。當(dāng)Sprint試圖與Verizon和AT&T進(jìn)行競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，孫正義將美國(guó)無(wú)線服務(wù)的質(zhì)量類比為北京的空氣質(zhì)量。他威脅要在日本電信監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)的辦公室里自焚的事情至少發(fā)生過(guò)一次。

In speaking with reporters alongside Mr. Trump on Tuesday, Mr. Son clutched what appeared to be a presentation from the meeting. One page featured the logos of both SoftBank and Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant that assembles Apple’s iPhone. On the page — and circled — was the text committing to investing $50 billion in the United States and generating 50,000 jobs over the next four years.

本周二與特朗普一起見(jiàn)記者的時(shí)候，孫正義似乎把會(huì)議中的演示內(nèi)容搬了出來(lái)。頁(yè)面上有軟銀和富士康的標(biāo)志。富士康是臺(tái)灣制造巨頭，為蘋果公司裝配iPhone。頁(yè)面上用圓圈標(biāo)出了未來(lái)四年內(nèi)在美國(guó)投資500億美元，創(chuàng)造5萬(wàn)個(gè)工作機(jī)會(huì)的承諾。

Below it appeared to be Mr. Son’s signature.

下面似乎是孫正義的簽名。

Foxconn said in a statement that it was in preliminary discussions about a potential American expansion, adding that the scale had not yet been decided. Foxconn has said in the past that it plans to expand its limited operations in the United States.

富士康在一份聲明中說(shuō)，它正在對(duì)在美國(guó)的潛在擴(kuò)張計(jì)劃進(jìn)行初步討論，但其規(guī)模尚無(wú)定論。富士康過(guò)去曾表示要擴(kuò)大其在美國(guó)的有限的業(yè)務(wù)。

Any Foxconn investment is not likely to mean a major flow of jobs back to America. The company has been plowing funds into automation and has said in the past that it would invest in a plant to build robots in Pennsylvania, indicating that new American jobs would probably be higher-end and limited in number.

富士康在美國(guó)進(jìn)行的任何投資都不太可能意味著有大量的工作崗位回流美國(guó)。該公司一直把資金投入到自動(dòng)化領(lǐng)域，之前曾表示要在賓夕法尼亞州投資一家建造機(jī)器人的工廠，這表明美國(guó)的新崗位可能會(huì)比較高端，數(shù)量有限。

Foxconn employs about one million workers in China. But many of those jobs are low skilled, and as overall wages have risen in China, their pay levels have become less appealing to workers there. Maintaining enough staffing to meet production needs can be a challenge.

富士康在中國(guó)擁有約100萬(wàn)名工人。但是很多崗位對(duì)技能要求都很低，隨著中國(guó)工資整體水平的上升，富士康的工資水平對(duì)中國(guó)工人不太有吸引力。留住足夠多的員工來(lái)滿足生產(chǎn)需求可能會(huì)是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。