SoftBank’s mixed results partly blamed on sale of game development unit
Tokyo — On Monday, SoftBank said its net profit for the first half of the financial year plunged after the previous year’s sale of a game development business, but operating profit surged on brisk sales for its US telecom unit. The Japanese mobile giant said net profit for the six months to September came in at ¥102.6bn ($900m), down 86.6% on the same period a year earlier. The dive in SoftBank’s net profits was mainly because it sold former mobile game subsidiary Supercell and the profits from this unit had inflated 2016’s figures, it said. But operating profit soared 35.1% to ¥874.8bn thanks to a sound performance from its US wireless unit Sprint, the company said. Sales edged up 3.3% to ¥4.41-trillion, it said. The figures came after Sprint and T-Mobile announced over the weekend they had called off merger talks. T-Mobile, an affiliate of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, and Sprint are the third-and fourth-largest US wireless operators, respectively. Together the pair would have had 1...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.