Adam Neumann bids over US$500 million to buy back WeWork: source

ADAM Neumann has submitted a bid of more than US$500 million to buy back WeWork, the office-sharing company he co-founded and propelled to a US$47 billion valuation before it fell into bankruptcy, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

It is not clear how Neumann is planning to line up financing for his bid, the source said, requesting anonymity as the discussions were confidential.

Neumann raised WeWork to be the most valuable US startup, worth US$47 billion, before his pursuit of expansion at the expense of profit and revelations about his eccentric behaviour led to his ouster in 2019 and derailed what would have been a major initial public offering (IPO).

Last month, Reuters reported founder Neumann was trying to buy back the SoftBank-backed flexible workspace provider, which had filed for bankruptcy in November.

“WeWork is an extraordinary company and it’s no surprise we receive expressions of interest from third parties on a regular basis,” WeWork said in a statement.

“Our board and our advisers review those approaches in the ordinary course, to ensure we always act in the best long-term interests of the company,” it added.

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WeWork said it remains focused on its restructuring efforts to “emerge from Chapter 11 in the second quarter as a financially strong and profitable company”.

Last month, Neumann’s lawyers sent a letter to WeWork, saying he was exploring a joint bid for the company with Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point and other investors.

Third Point later told Reuters it had held “only preliminary conversations” with Neumann and his property company Flow and had not made any financial commitments.

WeWork scrapped its IPO in 2019 after investors raised questions about its valuation and corporate governance arrangements that gave Neumann too much control.

The company racked up losses on its long-term lease obligations as more people began working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and demand for office space plunged.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Neumann’s bid earlier on Monday (Mar 25). REUTERS