WeWork’s valuation is under fire. Here’s everything we know about its IPO plans, finances and concerns around CEO Adam Neumann.

• WeWork parent The We Company has been laying the groundwork for an IPO. The SoftBank-backed coworking firm was valued at $47 billion in its last fundraising round. But now it’s mulling a massive valuation cut, according to media reports. 
• WeWork CEO and cofounder Adam Neumann has been in the spotlight for his unusual pitches, accounting, and potential conflicts of interest, as well as far-flung investments with WeWork money.
• Business Insider reports regularly on the latest developments at WeWork. You can read our stories by subscribing to BI Prime.

Here’s what we know about what’s going on inside WeWork right now:

The latest

• Private wealth execs at JPMorgan and UBS told us they’re lending more against private shares. WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has borrowed from both.
• WeWork’s attempt to tap junk-bond investors may not work this time: ‘Their borrowing model is seriously in question at this point’
• WeWork is preparing to move into this massive, flashy Brooklyn building as its IPO plans crumble. We took a look inside.
• WeWork’s shrinking IPO will erase billions from CEO Adam Neumann’s payday, but he’ll still likely come out a multibillionaire
• Mutual funds like Fidelity’s famed Contrafund have slashed valuations on their WeWork stakes
• WeWork and Uber are giving SoftBank a black eye, but that doesn’t mean Vision Fund II is in trouble, experts say
• The CEO of coworking startup Convene is worried bad press around WeWork’s model could taint the entire flex-office industry
• WeWork says it has a $3 trillion market opportunity and has signed up only 0.2% of its potential customers. Here’s why real-estate experts say those numbers don’t add up.
• Real-estate billionaire Sam Zell just bashed WeWork: ‘Every single company in this space has gone broke’
• Salaryo, a startup that loans people money to rent flex office spaces, just nabbed funding. It adds another layer of financing to the world of WeWork and its rivals.

Financials and real estate

• Here’s what we know about Fibra Uno – the Mexico real estate company that’s WeWork’s biggest landlord. It highlights how quickly the co-working company has been growing overseas.
• We got a peek at WeWork’s top landlords. Here’s who is most exposed to the fast-growing, but money-losing, coworking company as it prepares to IPO.
• WeWork’s CFO says it will generate $2 billion in profit on the desks it’s opened this year, and it shows the importance of the ‘space-as-a-service’ model
• WeWork’s ‘entirely new, nonsense’ way of evaluating its profits is eerily similar to the tech bubble
• The past 4 years of WeWork’s pre-IPO financials show just how important cash flow is to the company’s growth
• WeWork reported its financials for 2018 and both its revenue — and losses — doubled
• One of WeWork’s buildings is profitable, and the company says it’s a vindication of its model
• WeWork documents reveal it owes $18 billion in rent and is burning through cash as it seeks more funding

Coworking rivals

• Industrious’ CEO tells us why the coworking startup is ditching leases and managing property instead. Bigger rival WeWork is eyeing a similar pivot to help erase losses
• Convene’s CEO says the $500 million flex-space startup is a hospitality company that partners with real estate, not a tech company. Here’s an inside look at the company’s financials.
• Seduced by WeWork’s sky-high valuation, coworking firms have multiplied. A shakeout could see them merge, shutter, or specialize.

Road to IPO

• WeWork might be painting itself as a tech company, but it’s facing a bunch of old-school real estate worries
• WeWork lays out its path to profitability – and most of its options involve slowing its breakneck growth
• WeWork just filed for its IPO, and revealed a lengthy list of risk factors that investors should be aware of
• WeWork’s advertising expenses have exploded by 164% on its way to one of the most anticipated IPOs of 2019
• Here are the 5 biggest questions facing WeWork as it prepares for its IPO
• WeWork is setting up a $2.9 billion fund to buy buildings that it will lease to itself
• A top WeWork executive explains why the company doesn’t have the same issues as Airbnb and Uber
• WeWork’s copresident says it’s ‘really just getting started’ on working with Fortune 500 companies, as it files to go public

Neumann’s leadership

• These are the unusual ways WeWork founder Adam Neumann has made millions, and stands to make more, from his $47 billion company about to go public
• WeWork details CEO Adam Neumann’s web of loans, real-estate deals, and family involvement with the company
• Lots of extremely successful founders in Silicon Valley cash out early. But WeWork’s CEO pocketing $700 million is still far from normal.
• WeWork’s CEO says the way it rents out office space makes companies’ financials look better. Some experts aren’t sure how legitimate the pitch is.
• WeWork’s CEO explains why he thinks his $47 billion company is recession-proof and how he keeps his ego in check as a young billionaire
• WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has reportedly made millions of dollars by leasing office space to his own company

SoftBank’s role

• WeWork’s CEO raised $4.4 billion from a Saudi-backed fund, but said going forward he’d consider declining investments on moral grounds
• How WeWork’s CEO grew a $10 billion relationship with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, whom he calls ‘Yoda’
• It took a day for WeWork’s CEO to recover from the shock of a $16 billion SoftBank investment falling apart
• SoftBank has slashed a planned $16 billion mega-investment in WeWork after facing objections and will now invest $2 billion
• SoftBank is in talks to invest $15B to $20B in WeWork for a majority stake

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