Adam Neumann, WeWork’s co-founder and former chief executive, has broken his silence and accused SoftBank of abusing its power to escape an agreement to buy $3bn of stock from him and other early investors in the struggling co-working company.
A lawsuit filed by Mr Neumann accuses SoftBank and its Vision Fund of reneging on a promise to allow WeWork’s early backers and hundreds of employees to cash in some of their stock.
“Mr Neumann put his trust in [SoftBank and the Vision Fund] to be stewards of WeWork, which he — and thousands of others — had worked so hard to build,” the lawsuit says, claiming that he “upheld [his] end of the bargain” while the Japanese group did not.