Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company, SoftBank, has announced it is in the final stages of taking over control of the struggling Silicon Valley startup WeWork after beating out an offer from JP Morgan. SoftBank is spending between $4 and $5 billion in the deal, which would value WeWork between $7.5 and $8 billion. WeWork’s controversial founder and former CEO, Adam Neumann, will reportedly get $1.7 billion from the deal.
It has been a rough year for WeWork, to say the least, as they have severely diminished in value after a previous investment round marked them at $47 billion. They had recently been forced to cancel plans to go public after it was revealed the company had lost $900 million in the first half of 2019. WeWork has been forced to tighten up their business ventures and has been gearing up for mass layoffs. This new investment gives them a much-needed line of cash and buys them time to turn the business around.
Business Barrage 