SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said turning around WeWork would be “simple.”
WeWork can be fixed — and there’s a plan, according to SoftBank Group Corp., which offered the cash-strapped, unprofitable office-sharing company a lifeline in exchange for majority ownership.
Son said WeWork’s product — good-looking office space that companies and entrepreneurs can rent short term — was sound, noting SoftBank’s satisfaction with some of its WeWork offices in Japan.Still, Son admitted that he overestimated the company’s value and later discovered it had all kinds of corporate governance problems, including co-founder Adam Neumann’s outsized power and control rights. Son said he was blinded by Neumann’s positive attributes, including his design of WeWork’s offices.
WeWork does seem to be executing on some of Son’s plans. It’s considering giving up office floors in at least half a dozen locations in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Hong Kong has one of the world’s most expensive office markets.The firm’s new management is also reassessing whether to proceed with about 28 potential office deals in London, its second-largest market.
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