WeWork in talks to hire T-Mobile's John Legere as CEO: WSJ

FILE PHOTO: T-Mobile CEO John Legere speaks to guests during their company’s Un-carrier 9.0 event in New York, March 18, 2015. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

(Reuters) – WeWork is in talks with T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) Chief Executive Officer John Legere to take over as the head of the office-sharing start-up, the Wall Street Journal reported here on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The talks come weeks after SoftBank Group (9984.T) spent more than $10 billion to take over WeWork, including a $1.7 billion payoff to its co-founder Adam Neumann to relinquish control.

WeWork did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

SoftBank Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure became the executive chairman of WeWork parent The We Company, following the bailout by the Japanese firm.

Artie Minson, chief financial officer, and Sebastian Gunningham, vice chairman, currently serve as the co-chief executives of The We Company.

SoftBank owns 80% of the troubled office-sharing startup, but has not consolidated the company on its books because it will not hold a majority of voting rights.

SoftBank has four board seats on the company’s expanded 10-member board. The startup is looking for a new leader who could join as soon as January, the WSJ report said.

Reporting by C Nivedita in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur

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source: reuters.com