SoftBank to take control of WeWork: Sources

CNBC ^ | October 21, 2019 | David Farber and Thomas Franck

[C19fan]

SoftBank is in very advanced talks to take control of embattled work space company WeWork, according to people familiar with the matter.

SoftBank, led by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, plans to spend somewhere between $4 billion and $5 billion on new funding and existing shares, sources say.

The deal will value WeWork between $7.5 billion to $8 billion on a pre-funding basis and could be announced as soon as Tuesday. It is SoftBank itself taking control, not the start-up focused Vision Fund. After the move, Softbank would then have as much as 70% or more control of WeWork.

[C19fan]

From a casual observer this seems like the sunk cost fallacy in action. SoftBank has already sunk over $10 billion into this turkey, and now will throw another $5 billion down the toilet.

[HamiltonJay]

Throwing good money after bad, just hoping to salvage something...

[ConservativeMind]

Because everyone wants to eat fine foods while having to type on another person’s lap.