Nov 13, 2018

WeWork raises $3 billion from SoftBank

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

WeWork co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann. Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images.

WeWork this morning told bond investors that it has raised $3 billion in new funding from SoftBank, at the same terms as a $1 billion convertible preferred financing infusion from August (i.e., minimum conversion value of $42 billion).

Bottom line: This is from SoftBank corporate, not from SoftBank Vision Fund (which remains an existing investor). No word on earlier reports that Vision Fund is negotiating for a majority stake in WeWork, although we subsequently heard that WeWork had taken control off the table.

  • WeWork ended September with around $6.4 billion of pro forma cash ($5b at parent).
  • Q3 revenue was $482 million (vs. $241m from year-earlier), community-adjusted EBITDA was $121 million ($65m), and net loss was $497 million (some of which gets attributed to Asia partners).
  • Expectations are that WeWork will open more desks in Q4 than it did in all of 2017, and also more than in Q2 and Q3 combined.

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