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Profit tumbles for Las Vegas phone giant

Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

Sprint Corp. today reported a fourth quarter profit of $97 million or 11 cents per share, down 77 percent from $416 million or 47 cents in the 1999 quarter.

Sprint, the nation's No. 3 long distance company, is the dominant local phone company in Las Vegas.

The Westwood, Kan.-based company's profit, despite falling, beat Wall Street expectations by 2 cents after one-time charges were factored out.

Sprint shares have fallen 61 percent in the past 12 months as long-distance prices plunged to as low as 2 cents a minute from 10 cents three years ago. Sprint's quarterly sales fell to $4.39 billion from $4.42 billion while expenses rose to $4.03 billion from $3.69 billion.

Sprint PCS, the firm's wireless unit, met analysts' expectations with a loss of 53 cents a share or $490 million in the fourth quarter.

Sprint also said its non-wireless businesses will earn much less than analysts expect in the first quarter as it spends more on data services in an attempt to reduce its dependence on the struggling long-distance phone segment.

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