Japan's SoftBank has announced a reorganization to separate its international business from its from its profitable domestic mobile business.
The company announced that it will form a new domestic and a new global operations management company, each of which will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of SoftBank Group.
The global division will encompass entities such as loss-making US telecom subsidiary Sprint as well as SoftBank's 32% stake in Alibaba Group.
SoftBank's domestic business will take over the company's mobile operations, as well as subsidiaries and affiliates such as Yahoo Japan. The restructuring is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
Current SoftBank Group director Ken Miyauchi will be CEO of the domestic company, while president and COO Nikesh Arora will take over as CEO of the global division. SoftBank's founder and CEO Masayoshi Son will remain in charge of the SoftBank Group.
The restructuring appears to have been motivated in part by pressure from shareholders to shield SoftBank's profitable domestic business from the risks associated with the performance of Sprint.
Sprint's loss making and the large debts accrued from the $21.6 billion acquisition have had a negative impact on the company's stock market performance.