President-elect Donald Trump announced yesterday that Sprint Corp. (S, Financial) will be creating or bringing back 5,000 jobs to the U.S.
Trump said Sprint executives had called him to tell him of their decision, which he believes was prompted by the “spirit and hope” his election has brought to the country.
According to the Kansas-based telecommunications company, the jobs would mostly consist of new sales positions and call center agents that are currently managed overseas. The company said it will immediately begin searching for the best locations to establish these jobs in the U.S.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure expressed his optimism about the endeavor and the company’s eagerness to work with the incoming administration.
“We are excited to work with President-elect Trump and his administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the U.S.,” Claure said. “We believe it is critical for business and government to partner together to create more job opportunities in the U.S. and ensure prosperity for all Americans.”
The job creation initiative is part of a larger pledge by SoftBank Group (TSE:9984, Financial) CEO Masayoshi Son, who controls Sprint. Earlier this month, he met with the president-elect at Trump Tower and promised to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 jobs. The investment is part of a larger previously announced $100 billion fund SoftBank is forming with Saudi Arabian investors.
However, some of the jobs announced on Wednesday were planned prior to the election. The company, which had 30,000 employees at the end of 2015, has been adding stores around the country and hiring new employees for those locations.
Over the last few years, Sprint has closed several of its U.S. facilities, including call centers, and moved the work to vendors overseas. The 5,000 new jobs will be a mix of Sprint employees and those hired by third-party vendors. Since a U.S.-based call center will be more expensive, the company plans to reduce costs by cutting from other areas.
Sprint expects to fulfill their commitment by the end of fiscal year 2017.
Dodge & Cox is Sprint’s largest shareholder among the gurus with 4.6% of outstanding shares, representing 1.13% of its total assets managed. In total, nine gurus hold a position.
Sprint has a market cap of $35.19 billion; its shares were trading around $8.84 on Thursday with a forward price-earnings ratio of 72.5, a price-book ratio of 1.8 and a price-sales ratio of 1.1.
Disclosure: I do not own stock in any companies mentioned in the article.
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