The Wall Street Journal

New SoftBank investment could double WeWork’s valuation to as much as $40 billion

WeWork Cos.
WeWork typically signs long-term leases for floors or even entire buildings, fits them with coffee bars, beer kegs and avant-garde furniture, and then divides the space and leases it to individuals, small companies or units of large companies.

SoftBank Group Corp. is in discussions to invest another giant slug of capital in WeWork Cos., with a deal that would value the shared-office company at $35 billion to $40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Such an investment would roughly double WeWork’s $20 billion valuation, set last August when SoftBank   invested $4.4 billion in the company. It would make the New York firm the second most valuable privately held, venture-backed U.S. startup behind Uber Technologies Inc.

WeWork and SoftBank are talking about a multibillion-dollar investment, though the people caution the discussions are in flux. SoftBank’s $93 billion tech-focused Vision Fund, which led last year’s deal, would also lead this investment, these people said.

Rajeev Misra, who heads the Japanese conglomerate’s Vision Fund, said at a tech conference in London that WeWork was looking to raise money at a $35 billion valuation, Business Insider reported Wednesday. “Maybe it’s overvalued, but I believe they’ll be a $100 billion company in the next few years,” the publication reported Misra as saying.

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