Adam Neumann, who co-founded versatile workspace supplier WeWork in 2010 and notoriously stepped down 9 years later, is trying to purchase the corporate out of chapter, in line with a number of stories.
In a letter revealed by The New York Occasions right now, attorneys for Adam Neumann, his newest startup Circulate World Holdings LLC and “their affiliates” wrote that they have been dismayed with “WeWork’s lack of engagement even to provide information” in response to efforts to have the ability to make a proposal to purchase the corporate. The letter disclosed that Neumann, Circulate and associates have been partnering with traders resembling Dan Loeb’s hedge fund Third Level and “others.”
Neumann’s attorneys additional claimed that he had “previously worked to arrange up to $1 billion of financing to stabilize WeWork in October 2022, when just before the meeting (while participants were literally in the air traveling), the former CEO shut down that process without explanation.”
WeWork, which was as soon as valued at an eye-watering $47 billion, filed for bankruptcy final November. The corporate on the time listed over $18.6 billion of debt in what marked a shocking collapse for the as soon as high-flying startup that had raised over $22 billion from traders resembling SoftBank, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. It had confronted years of grappling with the fallout from a interval of aggressive progress and international growth that resulted in a portfolio of many underperforming properties.
When requested about Neumann’s buyback try, WeWork advised TechCrunch right now: “WeWork is an extraordinary company. As such, we receive expressions of interest from external parties on a regular basis. We and our advisors always review those approaches with a view to acting in the best interests of the company. We continue to believe that the work we are currently doing – addressing our unsustainable rent expenses and restructuring our business – will ensure WeWork is best positioned as an independent, valuable, financially strong and sustainable company long into the future.”
In the meantime, Third Level told the Financial Times that it had held “only preliminary conversations with Flow [Neumann’s property company] and Adam Neumann about their ideas for WeWork, and has not made a commitment to participate in any transaction.”
Notably, Neumann’s new enterprise, Circulate, is backed by the likes of enterprise agency Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). In August 2022, the outfit wrote its largest individual check ever, at $350 million, to Flow, Neumann’s residential real estate company centered on leases. So if Circulate succeeded in its try to purchase WeWork, that implies that a16z would change into a really giant shareholder within the firm.
