A WeWork board committee that negotiated a $3 billion (¥326.4 billion) tender offer with SoftBank Group sued the conglomerate Tuesday for abandoning the deal, accusing it of succumbing to "buyer's remorse" amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The tender offer was part of a $9.6 billion rescue financing package that SoftBank agreed with WeWork in October that gave it control of the company. Since then, the office space-sharing startup's occupancy rates have plummeted as customers in big cities stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus.
SoftBank said last week it would not press ahead with the tender offer because several preconditions had not been met, frustrating WeWork's minority shareholders, who were expecting a payout. They included co-founder and former Chief Executive Adam Neumann, venture capital firm Benchmark Capital and employees with equity in the company.