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

Adam Neumann WeWork CEO
WeWork CEO Adam Neumann is reportedly considering a $2 billion infusion from SoftBank. Getty
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SoftBank has backed away from its plan to invest $16 billion into the shared-workspace company WeWork, according to Financial Times.

Instead, SoftBank will invest just $2 billion, according to Financial Times, which said 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 the company's 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 the SoftBank 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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Becky Peterson was formerly a tech features correspondent focused on long-form profiles and investigations into the most interesting people and companies at the intersection of technology and finance.She's broken news on major tech stories including Palantir's work on Project Maven, Peter Thiel's $18 million estate in Miami (which was once featured on MTV's 'The Real World'), Jeffrey Epstein's tour of SpaceX, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's insistence that employees take "the D."Previously, she covered enterprise tech and tech investment banking with a focus on M&A, IPO and venture capital deals in San Francisco. She graduated from New York University with a master's degree in media, culture and communication with an emphasis on technology and society. ExpertiseSilicon Valley, Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine MaxwellPopular articlesInside the turmoil at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where employees say divorce, Epstein, and vaccines have left some staffers polishing their résumésThe secret life of Ian Osborne, the shadowy 38-year-old cofounder of Chamath Palihapitiya's SPAC who has built the ultimate black book of billionairesSilicon Valley VCs are at war with the 'far left radicals' running CaliforniaInside the life of Ghislaine Maxwell's secret husband, a once-high-flying tech entrepreneur backed by Eric Schmidt who is now a central figure in one of the country's most high-profile legal casesRent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman, one of the most successful female founders, is fighting to save her companyJeffrey Epstein set Elon Musk's brother up with a girlfriend in effort to get close to the Tesla founder, sources sayA drunken late-night assault allegation has roiled the secretive world of Mark Zuckerberg's private family office. Personal aides are speaking out about claims that household staff endured sexual harassment and racism from their colleagues.