SoftBank has been equivocating for months over this deal. It has been in the works long before the current Uber CEO arrived.

They are structuring a deal that is advantageous to themselves, exploiting Benchmark’s desire for an exit so they can pay its investors their returns.

SoftBank is getting extremely cheap debt at the moment, so it makes sense to take advantage of shareholder turmoil to get valuable companies at a discount. With this purchase, SoftBank will have a hand in every significant ride sharing other than Lyft.