The Japanese SoftBank has set up a financing plan that would give it control over WeWork, the giant of the shared offices, thus keeping a company that urgently needs to find fresh money, says the Wall Street Journal Sunday.
According to the business daily, this should allow to limit a little more the influence of Adam Neumann, who founded the company with his wife but whose escapades and practices have earned him to be dismissed in late September of his duties as Chief Executive Officer of WeWork's parent company, We Company, which also had to give up what was to be one of the most popular IPOs of the year.
One of the solutions could be the additional commitment of SoftBank to the tune of billions of dollars, which already owns a third of WeWork after having long injected money enthusiastically into the company.
JP Morgan Chase has been instructed by WeWork to find fresh money and several dozen potential investors have already been approached, a spokeswoman said.
SoftBank's commitment could be in the form of bonds and increased participation, according to Wall Street Journal sources, who point out that "the situation is fluid" and that in the end it is not certain that an agreement is found.
Adam Neumann reinvented the concept of shared offices and gave WeWork a high-tech, hipster-like image that earned him tremendous success in just a few years.
But his management style, his controversial accounting methods and apparent conflicts of interest have spurred investors' enthusiasm and their icy welcome has pushed the company to postpone its IPO.
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