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- As part of Softbank's takeover deal with WeWork, Softbank is cleaning house.
- Ousted CEO Adam Neumann is being offered a lucrative pay package that will also see him resign from his chairman role and sever most of his ties.
- The two co-CEOs who replaced him a few weeks ago are also reportedly out, while Softbank's go-to fixer, COO Marcelo Claure steps in as interim chairman to search for a CEO.
- Claure is a self-made man, in all likelihood a billionaire, whose rise to success is the stuff of Hollywood legend.
- And if his life is any indication, he may be a good reason to hope that the WeWork train wreck may get back on track.
- Read more WeWork news here.
WeWork's whirlwind collapse from $47 billion startup to failed IPO and near bankruptcy will no doubt go down in the annals of business lore.
But now that the company has agreed to take a deal from its major investor Softbank that puts the company firmly in Softbank's control, we'll have to see what Act 2 brings.
Will it be the story of a spectacular turnaround?
There's a much better chance that it could now that Softbank has reportedly installed its famed corporate fixer, Marcelo Claure, as WeWork's interim leader.
Softbank's deal to rescue WeWork hands co-founder and ousted CEO Adam Neumann nearly $1.7 billion plus millions in advisory fees. In exchange, Neumann must give up much of his voting rights and his role as chairman. The deal also reportedly removes the two co-CEOs who took over a few weeks ago, both of whom were hired under Neumann's watch.
Claure is to be named interim chairman and to lead a search for a new CEO.
Claure is the COO of Softbank Group, the publicly traded holding company built Masayoshi Son and one of Son's most trusted lieutenants. Claure is also the CEO of Softbank Group International.
Most people know Claure as the man Softbank installed as CEO of Sprint, who turned that wireless company around after Softbank's major investment.
But his career and his life story are far more spectacular than that.