At its peak, WeWork was the largest private office space lessor in Manhattan. (document)
New York:
Ousted WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann recently offered more than $500 million to buy back the troubled office-sharing group, media reported on Monday.
Neumann recently submitted an offer, but it’s unclear how he would fund such a deal, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
A letter to WeWork seen by AFP last month showed Neumann was seeking to buy the company out of bankruptcy.
WeWork went bankrupt in November and its main creditors will take over the company.
Read | WeWork doubles down on bankrupt company in latest confusing bet
At its peak, WeWork was the largest tenant of private office space in Manhattan and had coworking spaces in cities around the world.
But investors are worried not only about WeWork’s business model and unbridled growth, but also about Neumann’s reliability as a boss.
Neumann was a charismatic figure known for making sometimes sudden decisions.
Read | How WeWork went from $47 billion startup to bankruptcy
The board fired him in September 2019, shortly after the company delayed its IPO.
Neumann was forced to leave the company with a $1.7 billion exit package, and the company’s value was slashed to $8 billion.
WeWork was then disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with offices empty as employees worked remotely and the company never fully recovered.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
