Masayoshi Son reportedly called OYO's Ritesh Agarwal as "the little brother" of the infamous Adam Neumann who wrecked WeWork

• The SoftBank chief referred to OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal as WeWork’s Adam Neumann’s ‘little brother’ in a call, said a Financial Times report.
• The comparison had become common after the Indian hotel chain faced a series of troubles, around the time WeWork valuation nosedived.
• However, in a recent conference call with reporters, OYO board member Aditya Ghosh had insisted that SoftBank is just a shareholder in the company.

Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son has often been referred to as the father of many unicorns — Uber, Alibaba, WeWork, Paytm, and OYO ⁠— from around the world. And it seems, Son has taken it quite literally.

Financial Times reported that on a call with Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork, Son referred to OYO's Ritesh Agarwal as the former’s little brother. “Your little brother…is really performing faster [and] better than you guys. Let me take you through their deck and how well they’re doing,” Son said during the call, a WeWork executive told FT.

WeWork, the US-based realty company went under last year as a cloud of dirt exploded from under the carpet at a time when the company was looking to file for an IPO. As its financials were questioned, the value of WeWork dropped from $47 billion to $8 billion.


The Indian hospitality unicorn OYO has been under the scanner after hoteliers complained of non-payment of dues and other issues. OYO is hailed as SoftBank’s hot investment in India and was growing at breakneck speed kicking up dirt along the way. After multiple troubles, critics have been comparing OYO to WeWork.

There have been several reports that it was Son who pressurised OYO on the fast growth phase, but soon after the WeWork debacle asked it to focus on profitability instead.

In a recent conference call with reporters, OYO board member Aditya Ghosh had insisted that SoftBank is just a shareholder in the company.

“Our relationship with Softbank is that of a good shareholder, there has been no change in that because of what has happened in another company. It’s a board-governed company, no particular shareholder gives us any guidance. You put up an annual operating plan and work very hard to deliver on that,” Ghosh said during the call.

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