Adam Neumann looks to buy back WeWork for more than $500M: sources

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann has submitted a bid to buy back the bankrupt office-sharing company for more than $500 million, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

It is not clear how Neumann is planning to line up financing for his bid, the source said, requesting anonymity as the discussions were confidential.

Last month, Reutersreportedfounder Neumann was trying to buy back the flexible workspace provider which had filed for bankruptcy in November.

“As we’ve said previously, WeWork is an extraordinary company and it’s no surprise we receive expressions of interest from third parties on a regular basis,” WeWork said in a statement.

“Our board and our advisors review those approaches in the ordinary course, to ensure we always act in the best long-term interests of the company,” it added.

WeWork said it remains focused on its restructuring efforts to “emerge from Chapter 11 in the second quarter as a financially strong and profitable company.”

Under Neumann, WeWork grew to be the most valuable US startup worth $47 billion. But his pursuit of growth at the expense of profit and revelations about his eccentric behavior led to his ouster and derailed an initial public offering in 2019.

Last month, Neumann’s lawyers had sent a letter to WeWork, saying he was exploring a joint bid for the company with Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point and other investors.

However, Third Point later told Reuters it had held “only preliminary conversations” with Neumann and his property company Flow and had not made any financial commitments.

The SoftBank-backed company 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 plunged.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Neumann’s bid earlier on Monday.