Multinational Japanese telecommunications company Softbank is planning to make an astonishing $10 billion investment in the U.S.'s largest startup; ride sharing company Uber, as reported to The Wall Street Journal. The first reports of this investment began last month in The New York Times, and are now confirmed as moving forward by various insider sources. According to Techcrunch, this is likely to be the "largest secondary transaction in history, with thousands of Uber employees eligible to sell shares."

Softbank's Vision Fund is the largest technology investment fund in history at $93 billion and counting. The fund is backed by tech superpowers like Apple (AAPL  ), Sharp (TYO: 6753), and Qualcomm (QCOM  ), not to mention the sovereign nations of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Just yesterday, business-messaging startup Slack announced that it is receiving $250 million from Vision Fund, raising it's value to over $5 billion. According to Recode, Softbank is aiming to raise enough money to invest $20 billion on average each year.

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The decision to invest in the American company Uber is intuitive when you consider the investments Vision Fund has made in other international ride-hailing apps, such as Grab (GRAB: IN) in Southeast Asia, Didi Chuxing in China, and Ola in India, according to Fortune. However, the decision may come as a surprise to some on account of Uber's tumultuous year of scandals and controversy, including major lawsuits, sexual harassment allegations, and leadership turnover. According to Techcrunch, Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, is likely embracing this support from Softbank as he plans to take the company public in 18 to 36 months. If the deal succeeds, Softbank could have a 22 percent stake in the company, via "purchasing shares directly from the company as well as from existing shareholders looking to cash out," as reported in Business Insider.

Uber was last valued at $69 billion, but the offer from Softbank would essentially value the company at $50 billion, representing a discount of 30 percent. However, for a company like Uber, who has braved sharp rises and falls before, this deal with the Japanese powerhouse may very well be worth the price. The talks and negotiations can be expected to finalize by the end of this month.