WeWork to end up controlled by SoftBank Group under bailout package: Media Reports

WeWork would end up under the control of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp which has prepared a financing package for the cash-strapped office space sharing company, according to reports. 

Softbank is convinced it can turn around the embattled startup, whose founder Adam Neumann resigned as CEO last month following pressure. 

WeWork, which is the biggest tenant in New York and one of the largest in London, also has been shoring up its financing after its parent company We Company (PRIVATE-NA:COM) pulled its plans for an initial public offering.

SoftBank already owns one-third of WeWork and is aiming to invest several billion dollars in new equity and debt, reports said.

We Company was valued at $47 billion in a SoftBank investment report early this year but its valuation was slashed to around $20 billion, forcing the IPO to be pulled. 

The New York-based company lost more than $900 million in the first half of 2019, up 25% from a year earlier, even as its revenue doubled to $1.54 billion, as it burned through cash to expand.

In addition to the Softbank bailout, We Company is mulling other financing options. 

The board has tapped JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) to look at ways for the company to raise billions in debt, and the bank is in the middle of meetings with investors about participating in a multibillion-dollar debt deal, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“WeWork has retained a major Wall Street financial institution to arrange a financing,” a representative for We Company said in a statement on Sunday.

“Approximately 60 financing sources have signed confidentiality agreements and are meeting with the company’s management and its bankers over the course of this past week and this coming week.”

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Story by ProactiveInvestors