SoftBank slides after Sprint said to plan Job cuts

SoftBank Group Corp. fell the most in a week after Sprint Corp. was said to propose cutting 2,500 jobs and close call centers as part of a plan to cut $2.5 billion in costs.

The shares dropped 3.4 percent to 4,849 yen in Tokyo on Tuesday, ending the biggest two-day increase since April 2014. Sprint, which is reporting results on Tuesday, plunged more than 12 percent in New York on Monday.

SoftBank's shares fell last week to their lowest since buying Sprint in 2013 amid mounting pessimism billionaire Masayoshi Son can turn around the money-losing U.S. carrier. Son has said he already sees "light at the end of the tunnel" for a company that booked losses in six of the past seven quarters, but the turnaround may take two years. Sprint is eliminating about 7 percent of its workforce, much of it from shutting call centers, according to a person familiar with the situation. SoftBank reports earnings on Feb. 10.

Sprint Corp has axed at least 2,500 jobs across six customer care centers and its Kansas headquarters as part of its plan to cut $2.5 billion in costs, a company spokes- woman said on Monday.

The job cuts, mostly in customer service, also include 574 positions at Sprint's headquarters at Overland Park, Kansas, Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Boyd said.

Sprint, the fourth-largest U.S wireless carrier, has shut down call centers in Virginia, New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas and cut back jobs at its Colorado and Overland Park call centers, Boyd added.

The telecom company, which has kick started a turnaround plan, said last year it is looking at areas such as labor costs, network expenses, information technology and administrative expenses to reduce costs to the tune of $2.5 billion.

Investors have been concerned that the company, which is majority-owned by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, is burning cash at an alarming rate to acquire users and upgrade its network. Sprint notified employees last week about the job cuts and severance benefits through email, Boyd said.

As of Jan. 1, Sprint's workforce totaled 33,000 employees. The company has said that it planned to give layoff notices to employees before Jan. 30 as its severance package would be reduced after that date.