Jackal Pan/Getty Images; Michael Lee/Getty Images; Ruobing Su/Business Insider
WeWork CEO Adam Neumann could receive close to $1.7 billion to leave WeWork's board, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.
- WeWork's largest investor, SoftBank announced a deal to take control of the company with CEO Adam Neumann stepping down from the board. The rescue plan, which comes weeks before WeWork was set to run out of money, includes a capital infusion and stock buyback from the Japanese investor.
- Tech and finance experts are shocked by SoftBank's possible $1.7 billion golden parachute for ousted WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. According to a Wall Street Journal report, SoftBank will give Neumann close to $1.7 billion to leave WeWork's board and give up his voting power; Softbank did not specify details on his exit package.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about his company's impact on the financial services and housing sectors. The committee will likely ask Zuckerberg about the Facebook-created cryptocurrency network called Libra that it announced in June. It's expected to launch as soon as 2020.
- The CEO of Box roasted former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann's rumoured $1.7 billion handout. Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, poked fun at the absurdity of Neumann's golden parachute, with a sharp tweet referencing a missing chapter in startup business books.
- Elizabeth Warren, who wants to break up Big Tech as president, has raised more money from tech employees than anyone else. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren raised more than $173,000 from tech employees in the third quarter, according to a Bloomberg report.
- Zoox cofounder Jesse Levinson said there's 'no chance' Tesla will launch fully self-driving cars next year, despite Elon Musk's claims. Zoox is also a self-driving car startup, but unlike Tesla, it is developing autonomous vehicles specifically meant for ride-hailing, rather than for individual ownership.
- One of Facebook's biggest advertising execs announced that he is leaving the company. Rob Goldman, most recently Facebook's VP of Ads and one of the company's top-ranking advertising executives, announced on Twitter that he's leaving the company.
- One of Tesla's most vocal investors sold more than $39 million of the stock ahead of the company's earnings report. ARK Investment Management, a relatively small but extremely vocal supporter of Tesla, trimmed its stake by 150,000 shares ahead of the company's earnings report, which will be released on Wednesday.
- A Yale professor and Goldman Sachs veteran have teamed up on an eccentric new blockchain-powered social network to try to make Facebook irrelevant. The new social network, called Revolution Populi, will operate on the blockchain and is slated to launch next year.
- German flying-taxi startup Lilium said it has taken a big step toward providing intercity rides for $70. Lilium has demonstrated that its electric jet can take off vertically and then move into "level flight" - flying forward - and hit speeds of up to 100 kph (62 mph).
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