The We Co., the parent of coworking giant WeWork Cos. Inc., unveiled several changes to its proposed governance structure ahead of its planned IPO in response to market feedback.
The company said any CEO who succeeds co-founder Adam Neumann will be selected by its board, acting as a group, and no member of Neumann's family will sit on the board. Neumann also agreed to give to the company any profits he receives from the property transactions he has entered into with the company.
Neumann, who earlier entered into a one-year lock-up agreement with the underwriters in the planned offering, also agreed to limit his ability to sell in each of the second and third years following the offering to no more than 10% of his shareholdings.
Among other changes, the company said it will appoint a lead independent director by the end of the year. It also vowed to maintain a board comprising a majority of independent directors, with all of the board committees and subcommittees to consist of at least a majority of independent directors.
Its high-vote stock will reduce to 10 votes per share from 20 votes per share. In case Neumann becomes permanently incapacitated or dies, the voting power of the company's high-vote stock will automatically decrease to one vote per share.
The company added that its class A common stock has been approved for listing on Nasdaq under the trading symbol WE.
Earlier, TechCrunch reported that the company's chief communications officer, Jennifer Skyler, is leaving to become chief corporate affairs officer at American Express in the fall.
SoftBank Group Corp., which is the biggest outside investor in the coworking company, aims to acquire at least $750 million of the shares in the IPO, which is expected to raise at least $3 billion and value the company in a range of $15 billion to $20 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The We Co. could seek a valuation in the planned IPO in a range of $10 billion to $12 billion, far less than the $47 billion valuation it achieved in January, Reuters reported separately, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The news agency could not get a comment on the matter from WeWork or SoftBank.
