WeWork Directors are Working Hard to Be Able to Sue Softbank

A special committee of WeWork board members have filed a motion on Monday that would prevent the company from being disbanded.

WeWork, who is owned by Softbank, is pursuing legal action against its majority owner over an abandoned $3 billion tender offer for the office space-sharing start-up.

The special committee represents minority shareholders in the company including its co-founder Adam Neumann. It is contesting SoftBank’s decision to walk away from the tender offer agreed to in 2019.

The committee has filed a “status quo order” which would preserve the committee’s authority pending the outcome of the legal case between WeWork and SoftBank. A judge in Delaware court last month set the trial date for the case for early January.

According to the special committee’s motion, the board of the We Company, WeWork’s parent, held a meeting on April 29th at which the company’s counsel recommended the appointment of two temporary board members who would form a new committee to adjudicate the existing special committee’s authority.

In a 6-2 vote, the company’s board voted to approve retaining a search firm to identify independent directors, according to the filing.

Last month SoftBank’s lawyers wrote to WeWork’s board to request that it confirm the special committee is not authorized to act on behalf of WeWork.

Former chief executive Adam Neumann filed a lawsuit against SoftBank last week for terminating the tender offer as well as a motion to consolidate his case with the special committee’s.

A ruling on the motion to consolidate the cases is expected next week, according to sources familiar with the matter.