Yahoo Finance T-Mobile's chief executive is in talks to become WeWork's new boss
John Legere, the chief executive of T-Mobile US, is in talks to become the next chief executive of WeWork following the departure of co-founder Adam Neumann.
The office space rental business is seeking to hire a new boss to run the business starting from January, The Wall Street Journal reported last night.
Mr Legere has held the reins at T-Mobile US for the past seven years and is reportedly one of several candidates in the running for the WeWork job.
The search for a new WeWork chief executive comes after the business accepted a $10bn (£7.7bn) financing deal from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.
WeWork scrapped plans to go public in September at a $47bn valuation. The funding from SoftBank reportedly valued the business at as little as $8bn.
Mr Neumann, a co-founder of WeWork, left the business as part of the investment deal with SoftBank, although he remains a board observer.
He was given a $185m consulting fee and agreed to sell $1bn of stock to SoftBank as part of the deal. He also received $500m in credit so he can pay off existing loans.
Following Mr Neumann’s departure, WeWork promoted executives Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham to share the chief executive role.
SoftBank has also installed its chief operating officer, Marcelo Claure, as the new chairman of WeWork.
Mr Legere announced last year that T-Mobile plans to merge with Sprint, another American telecoms business.
The boards of both companies approved the $26bn merger, although a series of US states have filed legal action which has prevented the finalisation of the deal.
SoftBank is the majority owner of Sprint and Mr Claure is also the chairman of Sprint.
Mr Legere is an outspoken executive who regularly criticises rival telecoms businesses in social media posts. He released his own book of recipes last year.
Spokesmen for WeWork and T-Mobile did not respond to requests for comment.
