SoftBank Reports Drop in Quarterly Profit on Alibaba Stake

Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. has reported a 98 percent 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 percent to 2.19 trillion yen ($20 billion). The Tokyo-based company's operating profit, which highlights core operations, logged a 50 percent increase year-on-year as its U.S. mobile carrier Sprint boosted profitability. Softbank, which sells the Pepper robot, did not give an annual forecast, which is not unusual for the company.