TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Corp (T:9984) said on Thursday it would not recognize in its consolidated financial statements the $2.1 billion impairment charge made by its majority-owned U.S. telecoms network operator Sprint Corp (N:S), because of differing accounting standards.
Earlier Sprint said the charge included a $1.9 billion reduction associated with the Sprint trade name and about $200 million reduction in the carrying value of its wireline network assets.
But SoftBank, which owns nearly 80 percent of Sprint, said it would not recognize the charge, which it calculated at 256.8 billion yen, on its consolidated statements because Softbank operates under the International Financial Reporting Standards, while Sprint operates under the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
The fast-growing parent sliced the best part of $1 billion off its annual profit forecast in November, saying Sprint's battle to turn its business round would be a long one.
(This story corrects yen figure in third paragraph, adding 'billion')