If you want some conspiracy, the reason might be, Ned and Co want to launch some new project, let's call it NedIt aka Steem with SMT, for which they want once again secure about 80-90% for themselves.
It's very convinient when you can sell three years along, but one drawback is your share in the project sinks from 90% to 30-40%
So they might be willing a new start.