• October 11, 2012

Sprint confirmed it is in talks with Japanese mobile carrier Softbank, in which the latter would make a “substantial investment” in the former, and that such a transaction “could involve a change of control of Sprint,” according to a brief, two sentence statement.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal being discussed could be worth more than $12.8 billion, and that Softbank would wind up controlling about 70% of the company’s shares, with the remaining 30% publicly traded.

According to the paper, one sticking point in the negotiations is the status of Clearwire, of which Sprint owns a large stake.