Verizon Is Said to Seek Resolution of Vodafone Relationship

Verizon Communications Inc. is working to resolve its relationship with Vodafone Group Plc this year, having weighed options that range from ending its wireless venture with its European ally to a full merger of the two phone companies, said people familiar with the situation.

The U.S. and U.K. mobile-phone operators discussed a full combination as recently as December, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Those talks stumbled over disagreements on leadership and the location of the new headquarters, making a buyout or partial sale of Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in the Verizon Wireless subsidiary a likelier outcome, the people said. That stake is worth about $115 billion, according to analysts.