Controversial WeWork Chief Executive Officer Adam Neumann may be on his way out of the company he co-founded amid reports that the directors of parent company We Co. are meeting Monday to discuss his future.

Dismay around Neumann’s tenure is said to be widespread. Support to oust him comes from leading investors, according to CNBC, which reported that SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is in favor of the move. Exactly how many investors are backing the move is not clear, though the Wall Street Journal described those behind it as a “bloc of WeWork directors.”

The move to ouster Neumann, who both founded the company in 2010 and has near total control over it, comes following a tumultuous time for the company, which filed to go public in April. Since that time, various concerns have been raised not only about WeWork’s finances and corporate governance but about Neumann’s personal and professional behavior as well.

The first sign of serious trouble emerged Sept. 5 when it was revealed that WeWork could cut its IPO valuation by half and even postpone its listing. The cause was the company failing to persuade investors to look past its billions in losses, and the IPO valuation was reported to have dropped to between $20 billion to $30 billion. WeWork last raised money on a $47 billion valuation.

Forward to Sept. 17 and WeWork was reported to have paused preparations for its IPO, though it officially stated that it still expected it to happen before the end of the year. Along with concerns about WeWork’s large losses, corporate governance issues were also raised, since the board had made changes to limit Neumann’s control the week before.

Things went from bad to worse for the company with an explosive Journal exposé Sept. 18 into Neumann discussing issues with drugs and other erratic behavior, including his apparent desires to be president of the world, live forever and become the world’s first trillionaire. The report also claimed that Rebekah Neumann, WeWork’s co-founder and Neumann’s wife, once fired staff because she disliked their “energy,” and “pushes to infuse spiritualism” into the company.

There is a precedent for a major company to fire or force out its founder and CEO prior to its IPO. Travis Kalanick at Uber Technologies Inc., for instance, was engulfed in a number of scandals over management and corporate governance issues before finally being forced to resign from the company in June 2017. Notably, there are common investors between Uber and WeWork as well: Benchmark Capital and Softbank.

What happens next is up to the board, but whatever the outcome, it will be another tumultuous week for the multibillion-dollar company.

Photo: Pixabay