Apple may invest in the tech fund Trump said would create 50,000 US jobs (AAPL)
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Last week, president-elect Donald Trump claimed credit for a promise by a Japanese mogul to invest $50 billion in US companies, bringing 50,000 jobs to the country.
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son later revealed that the job-creating investment would come from a new $100 billion fund it launched in October.
As it turns out, one of the investors in that fund could end up being Apple. Apple was once in talks to invest up to $1 billion in Softbank's latest fund, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
That would be, at most, 1% of the money invested in the fund. Saudi Arabia's government fund is pitching in at least $45 billion.
The rationale for Apple's interest in investing, according to the Journal's sources, is that Apple would gain "insight on emerging technologies."
Apple is unusual among tech giants in that it doesn't run its own venture capital wing. It has invested in companies in the past, though.
Most recently, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, the Uber of China. Before that, Apple mostly invested in complementary companies like ARM, which designs the chips used in the iPhone, although it divested its stake when ARM was sold to Softbank for over $30 billion earlier this year.
Cook will be one of a group of tech executives headed to Trump Tower later this week to chat with the president elect.
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