Adam Neumann Reportedly Offers $500M To Buy WeWork Out Of Bankruptcy

Nearly five years after the company he co-founded and led as CEO paid him nearly $500M to go away, Adam Neumann is offering roughly that much to buy it out of bankruptcy.

Neumann's Flow Global has submitted a bid to buy WeWork out of bankruptcy for more than $500M, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The bid follows a letter Neumann’s lawyers sent in February to WeWork’s advisers saying that he was exploring a bid in partnership with Dan Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund and other investors. 

The WSJ reported that Third Point isn't involved in the $500M offer. A spokesperson for the firm said last month it hadn't made any commitments for a transaction.

In the February letter, Neumann’s lawyers said that prior to the bankruptcy filing, WeWork had canceled a meeting with Neumann “about a substantial equity infusion that would have helped the company.”

A WeWork spokesperson said in a statement to Bisnow that the company regularly receives interest from third parties.

“Our Board and our advisors review those approaches in the ordinary course,” the spokesperson said. “WeWork remains intensely focused on finishing the important work we began back in November, and believe we will emerge from Chapter 11 in the second quarter as a financially strong and profitable company.” 

Neumann, who was ousted from WeWork with a golden parachute, launched Flow Global as a housing startup that is being marketed similarly to his original vision for WeWork. The startup received $350M from Andreessen Horowitz and owns several buildings totaling over $1B.  

After this article's publication, a spokesperson from Flow Global sent a statement confirming it had made a bid, but disputing the facts of the WSJ's reporting.

“Two weeks ago, a coalition of half a dozen financing partners — whose identities are known to WeWork and its advisors — submitted a potential bid for substantially more than The Wall Street Journal reported without contacting us,” the spokesperson said.

Neumann’s lawyers didn't immediately respond to Bisnow’s requests for comment.

Another bidder, San Francisco-based apartment rental platform Rentberry, has signaled its willingness to bid on WeWork as it goes through the restructuring process, which began in early November and continues to wind its way through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

As of last week, the company had rejected 93 leases and kept 21 locations, less than half of the locations it operated before it entered bankruptcy.

Landlords have bemoaned that the company has withheld millions in rent as it tries to negotiate reduced payments, while the company has said it needs more cash to fund its operations during the process. 

UPDATE, MARCH 26, 10 A.M. ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from a Flow Global spokesperson.