A consortium led by SoftBank Group will buy a large number of shares of Uber Technologies in a deal that values the ride-services firm at $48 billion, Uber said on Thursday.

The price is a roughly 30 percent discount to Uber's most recent valuation of $68 billion. SoftBank and the rest of the consortium, which includes Dragoneer Investment Group, will own approximately 17.5 percent of Uber.

Uber said the deal will close early next year.

Uber, which is losing more than $1 billion each quarter, is planning an initial public offering in 2019.

Rajeev Misra, chief executive of SoftBank's Vision Fund, a $98 billion tech investment vehicle, will join the Uber board, The Wall Street Journal reported.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son already has sizeable stakes in China's Didi, Brazil-based 99, India's Ola and Singapore Grab, all of which have competed with Uber.