WeWork examines the limits of the voting power of the co-founder in an attempt to save the IPO



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WeWork executives, investors and advisers are discussing the capping of voting power of co-founder Adam Neumann and the removal of his wife Rebekah from a role in succession planning, with the goal of preserving the initial public offering to the savings of the company.

Consistent with the discussions, the modification of the terms of Neumann's supervisory rights, which give him 20 times the ordinary shareholder's voting rights, is one of the measures under consideration to win skeptical investors. .

Another possible change is to remove Mrs. Neumann from an unusual role in the selection of the future CEO in the event of Mr. Neumann's death.

Neumann, 40, is now working desperately to keep the IPO on track, even as the company's advisers wonder if investors will accept an already-weakened deal that would put the losing real estate giant at only $ 15 billion. It should accept any of the proposed changes.

The new valuation is less than half of WeWork's $ 47 billion calculated this year when SoftBank invested $ 2 billion in the group, and less than a quarter of the $ 65 billion Goldman Sachs bankers at one point from a company.

Within the company's office space, concern over the fate of the initial public offering was exacerbated by the cancellation of a planned public meeting to Thursday and the departure of the communications manager Jennifer Skyler, who announced this week role at American Express.

To dispel concerns over corporate governance, WeWork has already promised to add a new director to its board of directors, while Mr Neumann has returned a payment of nearly 6 million dollars from the company that prompted criticism.

However, its advisors are concerned that the changes will not have a significant impact on listing, as investors' concerns about corporate governance are even greater than fears about the valuation and the business model.

Mr. Neumann has been in regular contact with Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, to find a solution. In the end, the Japanese group could agree to inject additional funds to delay the WeWork IPO at a later date.

The parent company of WeWork, the parent company of WeWork, has had individual interviews with institutional investors, and the group is still considering launching a bid tour Monday.

These people added that no final decision had yet been taken and that it would ultimately go to Mr. Neumann.

WeWork and SoftBank declined to comment.

Additional reports from Miles Kruppa in San Francisco

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