Another 5 Billion Reasons to Walk Away From WeWork
The appeal of closely shared office space will be a coronavirus casualty. SoftBank must stop this bailout.
A new future of work: Sharing an office or social distancing?
Photographer: John Keeble/Getty Images
SoftBank Group Corp. needs to cut and run on its entire WeWork investment, not just the shares. Covid-19 and the economics of a prolonged crisis necessitate strict pragmatism.
As recently as two weeks ago, it seemed that a move to renegotiate the Japanese conglomerate’s $3 billion purchase of equity in The We Co. from existing shareholders, including founder Adam Neumann, was savvy and cunning. Today, that looks ill-advised, which is why it decided not to consummate the tender offer, Bloomberg News reported, citing a statement from a committee advising WeWork's board.