SoftBank Group Corp. is tapping Marcelo Claure to help turn around WeWork, after ousting co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Adam Neumann from the corner office last week.
SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, WeWork's largest investor, has asked the former CEO of Sprint Corp. to take a more hands-on role helping oversee a cleanup of the office rental company from his position at SoftBank, said people familiar with the matter, who asked to not be identified because the matter is not public. No decision has been made on his exact role, the people said.
If appointed, Claure will help WeWork's new leadership identify revenue and cost-saving opportunities, one of the people said.
Representatives for WeWork, SoftBank and Claure declined to comment.
In Claure, Son would be tapping an executive with a track record of fixing companies and overseeing his firm's investments.
The 48-year-old joined SoftBank in 2013, when the Japanese firm bought Brightstar, a phone distribution company Claure ran. Son tapped him in 2014 to run Sprint, which he helped turn around prior to the company's pending sale to rival T-Mobile US, Inc. He remains executive chairman of Sprint.
Claure is currently chief operating officer of SoftBank Group, CEO of its international operations and a member of its board. He also oversees the firm's $5 billion technology fund focused on Latin America.