Why SoftBank turns against Adam Neumann Suddenly ?

SoftBank officials want Adam Neumann to step down as WeWork CEO, according to weekend reports, so they turned against him. The rare showdown between SoftBank and one of its biggest investments comes after following pushback from perspective investors, not just over its widening losses, but also over Neumann's unusually firm grip on the company.

To SoftBank, WeWork was a unicorn on the rise. Its corporate peccadilloes, which largely revolve around corporate governance, appear to have been ignored by executives at the Japanese company: WeWork was a unicorn and SoftBank just had to be part of it. So SoftBank kept pouring in more money, just as it did with other great startups like Uber Technologies Inc., Didi Chuxing and Slack Technologies Inc. At one point SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son described WeWork as the next Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in reference to the fortune he made from investing in Jack Ma’s Chinese e-commerce giant.

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To SoftBank, WeWork was a unicorn on the rise. Its corporate peccadilloes, which largely revolve around corporate governance, appear to have been ignored by executives at the Japanese company: WeWork was a unicorn and SoftBank just had to be part of it. So SoftBank kept pouring in more money, just as it did with other great startups like Uber Technologies Inc., Didi Chuxing and Slack Technologies Inc. At one point SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son described WeWork as the next Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in reference to the fortune he made from investing in Jack Ma’s Chinese e-commerce giant.

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Directors on We Company's seven-member board that are aligned with SoftBank are deliberating how to replace Neumann as CEO, the sources said. Benchmark Capital, another big investor in We Company, would also like Neumann to step aside, one of the sources said.

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