Softbank reaches $20B deal to buy Sprint Nextel Japanese mobile carrier would get 70 percent of Sprint if agreement goes through; Sprint would be tougher rival of Verizon, AT&T Updated 5:10 a.m. ET TOKYO Tokyo-based mobile phone company Softbank Corp. has reached a deal to acquire 70 percent of U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel for $20.1 billion in the largest-ever foreign acquisition by a Japanese company. The deal, announced Monday at a joint news conference in Tokyo by Softbank President Masayoshi Son and Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse, was given a green light by the boards of both companies. It...