WeWork appoints new CEO months after showing Adam Neumann the door

If by any chance, WeWork wanted to cement the perception that
it is no longer a tech company but a giant space-leasing firm, it would
probably install real estate business leaders to be at the centre of its core
operations.

Well, that’s exactly what the space-renting startup seems to be
doing. According to a publication by the WSJ, WeWork, which has
been hitting the headlines for its famously failed Initial Public Offering, has
appointed Sandeep Mathrani as its top boss.

Mathrani will be taking over the operations of the company months after
its co-founder, and former CEO Adam Neumman was sent packing, following a
series of accusations, among them abuse of office.

The incoming executive spent about 1.5 years at Brookfield Properties as
the CEO and vice-chair. Before that, he served as CEO at General Growth
Properties for about eight years. General Growth was one of the largest mall operators
in the whole of the US until it was acquired in 2018 by Brookfield Properties.

He also served for another eight years as the vice president at Vornado
Realty Trust, a listed real estate firm with a market cap of about $12.5
billion, higher than Brookfield’s $8 billion market cap.

Mathrani is said to have relocated to Miami where he owns at least one
high-rise apartment.

The real estate mogul will be reporting directly to Softbank’s operating
officer, Marcelo Claure. The conglomerate bank is currently the largest
shareholder in WeWork, having taken over the operations of the tech firm last
year when its troubles started. Claure was named WeWork’s chairman last year in
October to oversee the bank’s $18.5 billion stake in the space-renter.

“The size of the commitment that SoftBank has made to this company in
the past and now is $18.5 billion. To put the things in context, that is bigger
than the GDP of my country where I came from [Bolivia]. That’s a country
where there are 11 million people,” Claure said in a meeting with employees
shortly after being appointed chairman.

Mathrani is set to step into one of the most-watched offices globally as
he will be looked upon to resuscitate the once-vibrant tech unicorn.

Already, Softbank has laid down a five-year plan to guide Mathrani’s
tenure in office partly, as well as to set the company on profitability path, according
to the WSJ.