©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A WeWork logo is seen outside its offices in the Queens borough of New York City, U.S., November 7, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
(Reuters) – Adam Neumann has made a more than $500 million offer to buy WeWork, the office-sharing company he co-founded and raised to a $47 billion valuation before it collapsed, he told Reuters a person familiar with the matter. .
It’s unclear how Neumann plans to get financing for his bid, the source said, requesting anonymity because the discussions were confidential.
Neumann led WeWork to become America’s most valuable startup, valued at $47 billion, before his pursuit of expansion at the expense of profit and revelations about his erratic behavior led to his ouster in 2019 and derailed that which would have been a major initial public offering.
Last month, Reuters reported that founder Neumann was looking to buy back the SoftBank-backed flexible workspace provider, which filed for bankruptcy in November.
“WeWork is an extraordinary company and it is no surprise that we regularly receive expressions of interest from third parties,” WeWork said in a statement.
“Our board of directors and our advisors review such approaches in the ordinary course, to ensure we always act in the best long-term interests of the company,” he added.
WeWork said it will remain 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 Third Point hedge fund and other investors.
Third Point later told Reuters it had had “only preliminary conversations” with Neumann and his real estate company Flow and had not made any financial commitments.
WeWork canceled its IPO in 2019 after investors raised concerns about its valuation and corporate governance arrangements that gave Neumann too much control.
The company has 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 plummeted.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Neumann’s offer late Monday.