SoftBank has slashed a planned $16 billion mega-investment in WeWork after facing objections and will now invest $2 billion (SFTBY)

January 07, 2019 at 14:44 PM EST

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SoftBank has backed off its plans to invest an additional $16 billion into the privately-held workspace startup WeWork, according to the Financial Times.
Instead, the Japanese tech company will invest just $2 billion, according to the report. The deal has not yet been finalized.
SoftBank's initial plan, reported in October, would have given it a majority stake in WeWork. But the size of the deal reportedly upset some of its biggest financial backers in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

SoftBank has backed away from its plan to invest $16 billion into the shared workspace company WeWork, according to the Financial Times.

Instead, SoftBank will inject just $2 billion, according to the Times, which said that WeWork and SoftBank are late in the negotiation process. The deal is expected to be announced early next week, though it has not been finalized, according to the report which cites anonymous sources.

SoftBank has already invested $8 billion into the startup.

SoftBank's plan to invest $16 billion into WeWork was first reported by the Wall Street Journal back in October.

That investment would have given the Japanese tech company a majority stake in WeWork. But SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son reportedly faced criticism from its biggest backers in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi over the size of the deal.

Under the new terms, the deal will not include money from SoftBank's Vision Fund, the investment arm of the company which backed the majority of its existing $8 billion investment.

A WeWork spokesperson declined to comment on the report. SoftBank did not immediately return requests for comment.

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