SoftBank is asking for the WeWork IPO to be put on hold

My favorite WeWork anecdote is the company paying the CEO 6 million dollars for the trademark "We" (which he later returned under pressure).

Say what you will, but you have to respect the grift.

> WeWork could cut the valuation for its IPO to under $20 billion and may even postpone the offering, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources. The company had been valued at $47 billion in its last fundraising round.

> According to the report, SoftBank is concerned that if WeWork goes public at a valuation much lower than its private-market valuation, it might hurt the firm's ability to raise its second Vision Fund, hence its choice to pressure the company into dropping its IPO plans.

Let it ipo and crash. Really the only rational thing to do.

I wondered if this was because they don't want to mark down their investment and take a public loss. Yep - article seems to support that.

Makes sense though - softbank's business model seems to depend somehow on these mega funds. Be good to get more data on their performance (I'm skeptical).

It sure seems like Softbank is a house of cards. This seems like the most likely place for the cards to come crashing down.