WeWork sparks worries about Masayoshi Son’s Vision Funds

in Tokyo’s Shibuya district is a cross between an iceberg and a plastic bottle passed through a shredder. Fitting, then, that the office-rental firm’s abortive listing, shelved on September 17th, threatens a financial shredding for its mastermind, Masayoshi Son—and that the debacle may be the tip of an iceberg for his $100bn Vision Fund .

Mr Son bet on Adam Neumann, WeWork’s charismatic co-founder, after meeting him for half an hour in 2017. SoftBank, the Japanese group Mr Son controls, and thethen gave the firm $4.4bn, despite its tenuous claim to techiness. Mr Son would reportedly have handed over another $16bn this year had Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, theand SoftBank have invested or committed to invest $10.65bn in the firm and own 29% of it.

WeWork will again attempt to list later this year—presumably with a better story about governance and path to profit. Still, an initial public offering may prove hard. Investors may be disinclined to embrace a stock with a good chance of losing value quickly. If WeWork cannot raise new capital, Mr Son may have to come up with cash to keep it going. SoftBank’s own share price has fallen by 20% since July.and SoftBank may still need to adjust WeWork’s fair value.

The deeper worry is that unicorn valuations in the private market may have risen materially above what public-market investors will pay in an’s 83 investments could suffer unrealised losses if and when they go public. True, it could enjoy post--backed diagnostics firm, have more than tripled in price since itsin 2018. But Uber’s shareholders have seen 30% of its value wiped out since it listed in May. TheThe WeWork fiasco comes as Mr Son’s $108bn Vision Fund 2 was about to start.

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Billionaire Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison calls embattled WeWork 'almost worthless'Oracle's billionaire cofounder and CTO Larry Ellison says WeWork is 'almost worthless' in a scathing indictment of the company's business model.
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

Oracle Founder Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’Uber sports a market valuation of more than $57 billion. while WeWork has raised more than $12 billion in venture capital. Larry...never one to mince words....
Source: MarketWatch - 🏆 3. / 97 Read more »

WeWork Has Bigger Problems Than Adam NeumannFor instance, its business model. And convincing potential IPO investors of a $20 billion valuation is looking very difficult. Never trust a CEO with long hair who builds a company with ridiculously high valuations. WeWork seems like a cult to me. Is ‘negative profits’ a thing? Doesn’t help when the CEO cashes out $700 million before the IPO.
Source: NYMag - 🏆 111. / 63 Read more »

Things are only going to get worse for WeWork, predicts NYU professor Scott Galloway: ‘It’s beginning to smell like malfeasance’Things are only going to get worse for WeWork, predicts NYU professor profgalloway: ‘It’s beginning to smell like malfeasance' profgalloway Is that smell from a bong?
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

A WeWork tenant found its weak WiFi security exposed bank details, driving licenses, and a virtual birthday card featuring Nicholas Cage as a catA man working for a digital media company in a WeWork building was able to view hundreds of documents belonging to other companies in the building.
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »