Mr. Neumann co-founded WeWork in 2010 and raised more than $10 billion for a business once valued at $47 billion,
persuading investors to value it as a tech company despite its real-estate roots. He also launched WeLive, planned as a network of buildings where people can rent rooms in shared, furnished apartments. The company opened apartment buildings in New York and Virginia, but WeWork closed WeLive after Mr. Neumann’s departure.
The 42-year-old entrepreneur
left the company in late 2019 after plans for an
initial public offering of stock fell through amid concerns
over his management style and heavy losses. WeWork, now publicly traded, has a market capitalization of about $7 billion. That valuation is more in line with real-estate companies than fast-growing tech firms.
Mr. Neumann became rich working at WeWork, and is using his own funds toward buying stakes in the apartment buildings, according to a person familiar with the matter. When Mr. Neumann served as CEO, he and his co-founder sold a total of more than $500 million of stock, largely at higher share prices than today, according to documents and people familiar with the sales.
To encourage Mr. Neumann to give up his control of the company, WeWork majority owner SoftBank Group Corp. paid him nearly $200 million for consulting and other fees and bought $578 million of shares from him, according to WeWork securities filings.