WeWork¡¯s bankruptcy filing caps a yearslong saga that revealed breathtaking flaws in the investment style of Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, damaging his professional reputation far beyond the money he lost.
Son overrode his lieutenants¡¯ objections and handed WeWork founder Adam Neumann billions of dollars from both SoftBank Group and the Vision Fund, lifting the co-working office space¡¯s valuation to an astronomical $47 billion in early 2019. Just months later, investors balked at the deep losses and conflicts of interest WeWork¡¯s IPO filings revealed.
WeWork¡¯s subsequent nosedive is costing SoftBank more than the estimated $11.5 billion in equity losses and another $2.2 billion in debt still on the line. WeWork¡¯s very public decline, along with the Vision Fund¡¯s record loss of $32 billion last year, battered Son¡¯s standing as a shrewd investor who scored one of venture capital¡¯s legendary wins through an early bet on Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba.
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