Sprint a drag on SoftBank profit

Tokyo

SOFTBANK Corp is forecasting its first profit drop in nine years as billionaire Masayoshi Son's goal of creating the world's largest wireless carrier stalls on losses at Sprint Corp. Operating profit will be about 900 billion yen (S$10.2 billion) in the year ending March, SoftBank said on Tuesday.

That's 10 per cent below its previous forecast and compares with 1.09 trillion yen reported a year earlier. The shares fell the most in a month.

Mr Son's strategy of financing international deals with earnings from Asia is coming under pressure as Japanese subscriber growth slows with all three national carriers offering Apple Inc's iPhone. SoftBank, the biggest shareholder in Alibaba Group Holding, has been unable to stem customer losses at Sprint sin…