WeWork board members and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son are reportedly in favor of removing Adam Neumann as CEO of the company.
According to sources, the board may possibly meet as early as next week to discuss making Neumann the non executive chairman. This would allow the company to bring in new leadership to guide them to its IPO.
Ronald Fisher, vice chairman at SoftBank, and Mark Schwartz, former board director at SoftBank, have both been apart of We’s board since 2017 when the conglomerate invested $4.4 billion into We. But Neumann is the controlling shareholder and could theoretically fire the board.
Just last week, We pushed its anticipated September IPO back to at least October as its original $47 billion valuation continued to tumble to as low as $10 billion.
Details revealed in its prospectus, from its financial losses to Neumann’s questionable leadership practices and conflicts of interest, have led investor interest to dwindle.
Since the company’s S-1 filing has come under great criticism, We has attempted to amend some of the faux pas, such a plan that would have allowed Rebekah Neumann, Adam’s wife, to pick the company’s next CEO rather than relying on the board.
If Neumann is removed, he would join the ranks of Uber founder Travis Kalanick, who also was forced to resign due to criticisms of how the company treated its drivers. Despite this, the firm’s stock has still fallen by over 20% since its May public debut.
