SoftBank Eyes Majority Stake In WeWork
A capital infusion of $15 billion to $20 billion would help WeWork to expand even further and to develop more new product lines.
NEW YORK CITY–SoftBank Group and WeWork are in talks for SoftBank to take a majority stake in the office co-sharing giant, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the talks.
The capital infusion could total between $15 billion and $20 billion, the WSJ said.
The investment, if it goes through, would give analysts a better fix on WeWork’s valuation, which is around $20 billion right now. It would also give WeWork, obviously, more funds for expansion and the development of new product lines. Already WeWork and its competitors make up a significant portion of office leasing, particularly in New York City. “One of the big stories from the third quarter was the continuing leasing momentum among flexible space providers, who were a major driver of activity last quarter,” said Nicole LaRusso, Director of Research & Analysis for CBRE Tri-State. “In Midtown South, WeWork accounted for four out of the five largest deals during the quarter,” she said.
However even though WeWork has been pushing into the enterprise space, it is better known for its smaller tenants. This is one reason why, generally speaking, brokers have been sanguine about its growth.
“For all the attention WeWork gets as a disruptor shaking up how people think about work, commercial real estate brokers don’t see co-working as a particularly big threat to either the brokerage business or the traditional model of real estate space occupancy,” Tanner McGraw, founder and chief strategy officer of Apto, which conducted a poll on the subject this summer, says.
The poll asked: “How much of a threat is WeWork to the CRE brokerage business?” In response, 49% of brokers said “Not a threat,” 44% said “Somewhat of a threat” and only 7% said “A major threat.” McGraw noted that WeWork’s market opportunity appears strongest with tenants with space requirements under 2,000 square feet.
Not that McGraw is completely complacent about WeWork. On some level WeWork may represent more of an existential threat, he says.