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Adam Neumann, the co-founder who was able to first turn WeWork into stock market hype and then bring the company to the brink of collapse, wants to take back control of the office rental company.

In the news: Adam Neumann, through his real estate firm Flow and with some investor friends, has made "a possible offer" to buy back the office rental company for $500 million to $600 million. This is reported by the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, among others. This is the second time in a short time that reports have surfaced about a possible comeback by the flamboyant Israeli-American entrepreneur at "his" WeWork.

The context: Things have been going badly for some time with the American office rental company, once the standard-bearer of the "new way of working. The company, which has completely distanced itself from Neumann in the recent past, filed for a moratorium through Chapter 11 proceedings late last year to shelter itself from creditors.

Pro memoria: WeWork was still valued at an astronomical $47 billion at its peak, but then experienced a spectacular decline.

  • Neumann had to step down as founder-CEO in the fall of 2019, as there were indications that he was thinking more about his personal wealth than the well-being of the coworking company.
  • Despite some questionable real estate deals, he did manage to negotiate a generous exit settlement, good for a whopping $445 million. The proceeds now allow him to co-fund any takeover bid.

© The Content Exchange, source News