The merger negotiations to combine Sprint and T-Mobile are in jeopardy, according to a Nikkei report Monday.
"SoftBank Group plans to break off negotiations on a merger between subsidiary Sprint and T-Mobile US amid a failure to agree on ownership of the combined entity," the Japanese financial news agency said.
Nikkei said the point of contention was over T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom's request to have control over the combined company. SoftBank reportedly decided it "would not give up control."
Reuters and Dow Jones both confirmed that SoftBank was hesitant to give up control of Sprint.
Sprint shares dropped as much as 11 percent, while T-Mobile stock declined as much as 5 percent after the report.
The shares of both companies pared some of their losses after CNBC's David Faber reported Softbank, which controls Sprint, is not planning to withdraw from the deal as soon as Tuesday as some reports suggest, sources say.