Sprint Nextel saw its profits fall 95 percent in the second quarter. The company's WiMAX network buildout was partly to blame. Sprint said it spent $51 million on the network during the second quarter. Severance costs along with merger and integration expenses also hurt the company's profitability. Severance costs more than doubled to $85 million while merger and acquisition costs nearly quadrupled to $122 million.
Sprint posted net income of $19 million, or 1 cent per share, on increased sales of $10.16 billion, compared with $370 million, or 10 cents a share, on sales of $10 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Cost is weighing on both Sprint's and Clearwire's results in the second quarter (see Clearwire's results below). Investors are hoping to hear some good news next week when Sprint is expected to reveal more information about its WiMAX deal with Clearwire. Investors in both companies want to see more details about how the two will save money by joining together.
For more about Sprint's results:
- check out this article from TelecomWeb