Lionel Laurent & Alex Webb, Columnists

WeWork and SoftBank Need Each Other

One of these companies enjoys growth, the other has money. Both are heavily reliant on faith.

Your bright hipster workplace.

Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
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Billionaire Masayoshi Son seems ready to bet big on a majority stake in WeWork, the $20 billion shared-office-space provider that masquerades as a “physical social network.”

This makes sense. WeWork needs cash to fund its breakneck growth; Son and his SoftBank investment fund need fast-growing startups to generate returns on their cash pile. Whether the next five years will prove them right is another matter entirely.