SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son talking on WeWork’s financials, as represented here as a downward arrow with no data points, in November 2019.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has since more or less conceded that its investment in WeWork was a debacle.
AdvertisementThe remaining $5 billion of SoftBank’s WeWork bailout that has yet to be committed is unaffected, according to the Journal, and the investment giant didn’t actually say that the $3 billion stock purchase was outright canceled.
However, the paper consulted two lawyers “who have drafted similar agreements to the one that SoftBank signed with WeWork,” with both saying that it would be very difficult for SoftBank to renege on the agreement.
Before SoftBank’s valuation of WeWork collapsed from a ludicrous $47 billion last year to just $8 billion during the bailout, WeWork billed itself as a revolutionary tech company rather than a commercial real estate company, which it clearly is.