SoftBank reports drop in quarterly profit on Alibaba stake

Tokyo: Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. has reported a 98 per cent drop in its April-June profit on losses stemming from investments in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.

SoftBank said Monday its quarterly net profit was 5.5 billion yen ($50 million), down from 254 billion yen the previous year. Quarterly sales added 3 per cent to 2.19 trillion yen ($20 billion).

The Tokyo-based company's operating profit, which highlights core operations, logged a 50 per cent increase year-on-year as its US mobile carrier Sprint boosted profitability.

Softbank, which sells the Pepper robot, did not give an annual forecast, which is not unusual for the company.

The first to offer the iPhone in Japan, SoftBank has bought British semiconductor company ARM. Its acquisition of US robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics is awaiting regulatory approval.