SoftBank Said to Give U.S. Veto Power Over Sprint Board Seat

SoftBank Corp. will let the U.S. government have veto power over one nominee to Sprint Nextel Corp.’s board to ease security concerns if its $20.1 billion takeover bid succeeds, a person familiar with the matter said.

The government-approved director will monitor national-security issues relating to SoftBank’s takeover of the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said the person, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. Mitsuhiro Kurano, a spokesman for Tokyo-based SoftBank, declined to comment.