Japan telecom Softbank quarterly profit sunk by Sprint woes, sticks to annual sales forecast

Softbank's quarterly profit plunged to a third of what it was the previous year as it struggled with reshaping its money-losing U.S. acquisition Sprint Corp.

The Japanese telecommunications and Internet services company reported Tuesday a 32.28 billion yen ($272 million) profit. Quarterly sales rose 18 percent to 2.33 trillion yen ($19.6 billion).

Chief Executive Masayoshi Son stuck to the company's annual forecasts for 8 trillion yen ($67.5 billion) in sales.

The company does not give net profit projections, but Son acknowledged earnings will fall because of Sprint woes.

Softbank, the first carrier to sell the iPhone in Japan, has widespread global investments including Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, which listed in New York last year. Softbank is also aggressively investing in India.