News Analysis: WeWork's biggest problem? It had too much money
In early 2017, Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son gave Adam Neumann the kind of advice no entrepreneur can afford to ignore.
Son's investment firm, Softbank, was on the verge of pumping more than $4 billion into Neumann's office subleasing start-up, WeWork, at a $20-billion valuation - making it one of the world's most valuable private companies, at least on paper. Despite the 10-figure vote of confidence, at the deal closing, Son told Neumann he had been "not crazy enough" to that point, according to Forbes.
