TOKYO (AFP) - Japans Softbank Corp. said Thursday that its net profit more than quadrupled in the nine months to December as customers flocked to its mobile phones and its affiliate Alibaba.com listed in Hong Kong.
The telecom and Internet giant said that its net profit shot up to 93.2 billion yen (871 million dollars) in the nine months to December, compared with 21.9 billion yen in the same period of 2006.
Operating income rose 31.9 percent to 260.2 billion yen, with revenue up 13 percent at 2.06 trillion yen.
Softbank said it earned more than 57 billion yen in gains from the flotation of Alibaba, which listed in Hong Kong in November, nearly tripling in value on its first day.
The firm owns a 33 percent share of Alibaba, a leading Chinese online marketplace for firms.
Softbank is also expanding in Japans cut-throat mobile business after buying British giant Vodafones struggling local unit in 2006, and following new rules allowing cell phone users to switch carriers but keep their numbers.
Softbank, which launched discount plans and an advertising blitz starring Hollywood stars, said it has snared more new customers than its two major rivals for eight straight months since May.
"We continued to witness a brisk net rise in the number of subscribers," Softbank president Masayoshi Son told a news conference.
The company said it also benefitted from a strong performance by Yahoo Japan, the countrys largest online media business, in which it owns a 41 percent stake.
"With us holding Yahoo Japan and Alibaba.com, we are easily the biggest Internet group in Japan and this allows us to be in a competitive position across the world in the new Internet age," he said, forecasting future growth.
Son, considered by Forbes magazine to be Japans richest person, declined comment on whether Softbank would consider a counterbid for the Yahoo parent company after Microsoft Corp.s unsolicited 44.6-billion-dollar takeover bid.
"We are watching carefully how things will develop. Depending on the outcome, it may increase further the value of Yahoo Japan, or it could jeopardise it," Son said.
"But we think our top shareholder position in Yahoo Japan will not change," he said.
Softbank did not give any full-year forecasts.
"From a long-term viewpoint, we will continue to work to improve profits at all divisions," Son said. "But depending on the action we may take, we cannot rule out the possibility of profits fluctuating in the short term."
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