wework
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WeWork in talks to go public through SPAC deal
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WeWork CEO says company on track to be profitable by end of year
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WeWork may try to go public again after it becomes profitable
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WeWork killed Adam Neumann’s $185M consulting gig, exec says
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Adam Neumann’s golden parachute keeps getting smaller.<\/p>\n
The WeWork co-founder is discussing a settlement with SoftBank that would cut his payout from the Japanese investment giant roughly in half, according to reports.<\/p>\n
Neumann and WeWork filed separate lawsuits against SoftBank last spring after it abandoned plans to buy $3 billion worth of shares from the office-sharing giant’s investors.<\/p>\n
But the parties are nearing a deal that would put SoftBank \u2014 which is now WeWork’s majority owner \u2014 on the hook for just $1.5 billion of that, including nearly $500 million that would go to Neumann, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.<\/p>\n
SoftBank would get 10.5 percent of WeWork’s stock from the firm’s early investors in exchange for that pile of cash at a rate of $19.19 a share, the price it initially agreed to pay, one person familiar with the deal told CNBC.<\/p>\n
WeWork declined to comment on the talks, which are reportedly not guaranteed to produce a final agreement. A spokesperson for SoftBank did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n
If it goes through, the settlement deal would trim about another $500 million off the $1.7 billion exit package Neumann was supposed to receive after he stepped down as WeWork’s CEO in 2019 following the company’s failed attempt at an initial public offering.<\/p>\n
SoftBank honcho Marcelo Claure, who also serves as WeWork’s executive chairman, said in October that Neuman would no longer get a $185 million consulting fee he was promised because he “violated some of the parts of the consulting agreement.”<\/p>\n
The reported settlement discussions came amid reports that WeWork would take another run at going public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company. That’s a publicly traded shell company that hitches itself to another firm which then takes over its stock listing.<\/p>\n
WeWork has been in talks about joining forces with a SPAC called BowX Acquisition Corp. in a deal that could value it at roughly $10 billion, according to the Journal. That’s well below the $47 billion valuation the company was believed to be worth before Neumann bungled its first IPO.<\/p>\n
Before he stepped down under pressure, reports swirled that Neumann promoted a party culture at WeWork that included him smoking weed on a private jet. He was also accused of not doing enough to rein in spending at the money-losing company.<\/p>\n