WeWork is all set to receive an additional $2 Bn funding from existing investor SoftBank, the US-based co-working giant announced on Tuesday. The fresh funding will take SoftBank’s investment in the co-working behemoth to $10 Bn.
According to reports, the Japanese investment giant was previously planning to invest whopping $16, which would have made it the largest stakeholder in WeWork. However, investors’ concerns forced SoftBank to scale down its investment to $2 bn. Reports in the media claimed that SoftBank’s middle-eastern investors had expressed reservations about committing unduly large investment in the popular co-working firm.
Nevertheless, the scaled-down investment cannot conceal the fact that Masayoshi Son and his investment team are betting big on WeWork. Although the eight year old co-working company is still far from earning the tag of a profitable company, Son & his team’s strong investment appetite should not be seen as a misplaced optimism. This is because over the years WeWork has earned an enviable status that has forced many people to call it the ‘Uber of the co-working world.’
Today the US based co-working giant offices in around 190 locations spread across different parts of the world. It counts big corporates like Microsoft, Samsung and Bacardi among its high profile clients.
Meanwhile, WeWork has now a new name. Henceforth the company will be called as ‘The We Company.’ There is no clear indication as to what really triggered this re-branding exercise, but the marketing outreach certainly seems to be the primary factor.
Commenting on the rebranding of company name, company founders wrote on the official blog post: “The We Company’s guiding mission will be to elevate the world’s consciousness. Living a conscious life means choosing to live proactively and with purpose. It means being a student of life, for life, where we accept that we are always growing and in a constant state of self-discovery, self-growth, and change.”