Softbank is in talks to invest a further $2bn (£1.6bn) in WeWork, which has been rebranded as “The We Company”, scaling back its previous plans to invest $16bn.
This latest plan will not include the participation of the Japanese conglomerate’s Vision Fund, which was the major backer of Softbank’s previous investment in the shared-office provider, according to a report in the Financial Times.
See also: Analysis: SoftBank’s property interests
In 2018 Softbank invested around $5.2bn in WeWork, which helped raise its liquidity to $6.4bn at the end of the third quarter last year.
In its Q3 results, WeWork reported its revenue had grown from $241m in Q3 2017 to $482m this year, however, WeWork made a loss of $168m in the third quarter, which it attributed mainly to its “growth investments”.
Its adjusted EBITDA before these growth investments – including events and costs related to services such as its coding school Flatiron – was $41m.
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