WeWork Names CEO as Chairman and Adds a SoftBank Partner to Board

(Bloomberg) -- WeWork Inc. appointed a new board member from SoftBank Group Corp. to replace the seat held by the investor’s former operating chief, Marcelo Claure. In addition, WeWork Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Mathrani was also named as chairman, a position formerly held by Claure.

The new director is Saurabh Jalan, a partner at SoftBank Group International. Jalan has worked at the Japanese conglomerate since 2015 and now oversees large global investments including SoftBank’s stakes in WeWork, T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom AG, according to a statement from WeWork. Prior to joining SoftBank, Jalan held positions at private equity firms AEA Investors and Silver Lake Partners.

Mathrani joined the board two years ago, after he was appointed CEO to replace Adam Neumann, who failed to lead the company through a disastrous attempt at an initial public offering. WeWork eventually went public last October. Its shares have fallen about 40% since then. They gained 2% on Tuesday.

Under the terms of a settlement between Neumann and SoftBank, the former CEO can legally request to return to the board as an observer. WeWork has yet to receive such a request, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

SoftBank’s other appointees currently on the WeWork board are: Michel Combes, a former Sprint CEO and current SoftBank executive; Kirthiga Reddy, president of Athena SPACs and a former partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers; and Véronique Laury, the former CEO of UK-based retailer Kingfisher. Bruce Dunlevie, a general partner at the venture capital firm Benchmark, is the lead independent director. Claure left SoftBank in January.

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