NEW YORK (Reuters) – Just a few months ago, WeWork’s co-founder Adam Neumann was being courted by Wall Street’s top investment bankers in anticipation of one of this year’s most high-profile initial public offerings.
By October, with the IPO abandoned and his office-space sharing company bleeding cash, Neumann found himself late on a Sunday evening pleading with WeWork’s largest lender for a $5 billion lifeline, people familiar with the matter said. The message was clear – without new financing WeWork would run out of money within weeks.
“Do you still believe in the company?” Neumann, who had stepped down as CEO but was still WeWork’s chairman, asked a room of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPN.N) bankers on the 42nd floor of their midtown Manhattan headquarters on Oct. 6, the sources said.
The JPMorgan bankers, led by private bank CEO Mary Erdoes and debt capital markets head Jim Casey, told Neumann and other WeWork directors they would back the company, and were confident…
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