Bloomberg: Uber and Softbank Close $1 Billion Investment Deal

Uber and Softbank have signed an investment deal in which the Japanese provider will invest $1 billion in Uber and buy $9 billion in shares of the taxi service, Bloomberg news agency reported.

As part of the deal, investment firm Benchmark has agreed to drop its lawsuit against former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Sources tell Reuters news agency that the company filed the lawsuit to limit the former director’s influence and remove him from Uber’s board. The governance reforms would have been a precondition for the investment.

The investment comes not just from Softbank, but from a consortium of companies led by the Japanese provider. The purchase of the shares would give the consortium a 17 percent stake in Uber. The deal had been several weeks in the making and follows a $1 billion investment by Google parent company Alphabet in Uber competitor Lyft. Softbank would have said it would invest in Lyft if the Uber deal didn’t come through, according to Reuters.