WeWork and SoftBank reportedly only paid Adam Neumann, the former CEO of WeWork, a portion of the $185 million fee that was part of his exit package from the coworking firm.
The payment was part of a noncompete agreement for Neumann. The source who revealed this said a portion of payment was dependent upon the completion to acquire WeWork stock from Neuman, as well as other shareholders. However, SoftBank walked away from this tender offer, which led to a lawsuit from both WeWork and Neumann.
The state of Neumann’s exit package came into question after Marcelo Claure, chief executive of WeWork, was asked about it at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in which he said the arrangement was void and did not elaborate.
The $185 million fee as part of SoftBank’s bailout for the coworking firm after Neumann was forced to step down as CEO of WeWork, which included selling $1 billion in stock and a $500 million loan.