Softbank Planning To Quadruple-Down On WeWork, FT
With billions already ploughed into the money-losing real estate company, and a combination of massive cash-burn and a $6bn loan contingent on its IPO, Softbank’s Masa-san appears cornered into quadrupling down on the giant tech company’s investment in Adam Neumann’s ‘creation’.
As a reminder, for every dollar WeWork earned in revenue last year, it lost roughly two.
And as its IPO-contingent funding evaporates, bond market investors are getting anxious…
Source: Bloomberg
To the point where WeWork is riskier than Tesla, Ukraine, and South Africa…
Source: Bloomberg
However, there is hope. As The FT reports, SoftBank is in talks with WeWork to increase a $1.5bn investment the Japanese telecoms-to-technology group has agreed to put into the office leasing company next year, according to people briefed on the matter.
A recut deal would see SoftBank invest at least $2.5bn, but would reduce the price per share at which it acquires WeWork stock, giving it a larger stake in the lossmaking property group, the people said.
Critically, the equity investment from SoftBank could unlock additional financing options for WeWork, without which it could quite clearly be a zero (the group burnt through more than $2.5bn of cash in the first half of 2019).
It appears this future investment would be the fourth 10-figure money drop:
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Aug 2017 – $1.3bn
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Jan 2019 – $1bn
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Jan 2019 – $5bn
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Apr 2020 – $2.5bn
But who’s counting?
Tyler Durden
Wed, 09/25/2019 – 20:30
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2mGSy1P Tyler Durden