Why WeWork’s Internal Turmoil Must Get Resolved

A group of WeWork directors are planning to push Adam Neumann to step down as CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It’s been several weeks of turmoil for the founder and his co-working behemoth. WeWork’s valuation was slashed — it is now expecting an IPO valuation as low as a third of the $47 billion valuation it reached in the private markets. It delayed its much-anticipated public market debut until at least October. And most recently, Neumann’s reported partying and drug use came to light following a revealing WSJ report.

As the pressure builds, a group (including officials tied to SoftBank) seem to be in favor of replacing Neumann as the company’s chief executive. The board could meet as soon as this week to potentially consider a proposal for making Neumann a non-executive chairman instead and injecting fresh leadership into the company pre-IPO, according to the Journal.

As you can imagine that’s a big, fat problem because WeWork’s IPO prospectus listed Neumann as a risk factor, noting that the company’s future success depends in large part on him continuing to serve as CEO, “which cannot be ensured or guaranteed.”

Here’s the thing, though: Neumann has the power to fire the entire board if he wants thanks to his supervoting shares. But at the same time, SoftBank, which is the company’s largest investor, is represented on the board and Neumann needs the conglomerate to continue pouring in cash.

We’ve seen another version of this movie before when Uber’s board successfully forced co-founder Travis Kalanick out of the CEO position before the company went public. Although Silicon Valley’s notoriously “founder-friendly,” my question has always been: Is it naive to think that the same person can continue to lead the company as it enters each new growth stage? Depending on how this power struggle shakes out, the answer may be … no.

This is important because it’s not just about whether the company can keep its eccentric CEO at the helm. It’s about acting in the best interest of the company, but what that entails is tough to discern given that there’s a lot riding on the outcome of this situation. There are both financial and reputational consequences to consider — and they’re bigger than just Neumann.

MOST POWERFUL WOMEN: Fortune published our 22st annual Most Powerful Women in Business list this morning — and Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson tops the list for the second consecutive year. The 2019 ranking is composed of more CEOs, more promotions, and more competition than ever. It includes 10 newcomers—most of them chief executives. In fact, there were so many qualified candidates that even a few of the record 36 female CEOs in the Fortune 500 didn’t make the cut.

In a feature titled ‘The World Champions of Women’s Soccer—and Equal Pay,’ my colleague Jen Wieczner notes that pay equity is rare—and virtually nonexistent in team sports like soccer and basketball. Now the field is experiencing a reckoning, as athletes speak up for gender equality—and the women’s soccer team, whose dominance has given them the world’s ear, are leading the charge.

Another must-read feature from today is our cover story, “Meet the Women Leading Netflix Into the Streaming Wars.” Fortune’s Michal Lev-Ram delves into the streaming wars. Her features zooms in on Netflix, which is leaning heavily on a team of female venteran content developers to create its new original hits.

VENTURE DEALS

- Sweetgreen, a Culver City, Calif.-based salad-focused restaurant chain, raised $150 million in funding at a $1.6 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Lone Pine Capital and D1 Capital Partners are said to have led the funding.

- Hydrostor, a Toronto and Australia-based developer of advanced compressed air energy storage projects, raised $37 million in funding. Investors include Elemental Energy, Canoe Financial, ArcTern Ventures, MaRS Catalyst Fund and Lorem Partners.

- Bold Penguin, a Columbus, Ohio commercial insurance technology provider, raised $32 million in Series B funding. Investors include Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., Lightstone, Guggenheim Insurance, Lockton, and individuals from Stone Point Capital.

- Lookiero, a Spain-based online personal shopping service for clothes and accessories, raised $19 million in funding. MMC Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including All Iron Ventures, Bonsai Partners, 10x and Santander Smart.

- Smarter Sorting, an Austin-based provider of granular, chemical-level data about consumer products, raised $17 million in Series A funding. US Ecology led the round, and was joined by investors including RTP Ventures.

- InsightRX, a San Francisco-based healthcare tech company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. HealthX Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Rock Health, OSF Healthcare, Leawood Venture Capital, Premier Inc and GreatPoint Ventures.

- Red Sift, a London-based cognitive data platform, raised $8.8 million in funding. MMC Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including In-Q-Tel, Inc, White Star Capital and Oxford Capital.

- Landline, a Los Angeles-based shuttle service, raised $3.85 million in seed funding. Upfront Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Mucker Capital, Matchstick Ventures and WndrCo.

- Voro, a New York City-based healthcare social network, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Floodgate led the round.

HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES DEALS

- Vedanta Biosciences, a Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases, raised $16.6 million in Series C-2 funding. Investors include QUAD Investment Management, SV Investment Corp., Shinhan Investment-Private Equity, Shinhan Capital-Yeollim Partners, Partners Investment Co., Ltd, FC Capital, and SymBiosis LLC.

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

- HarbourVest Partners invested $52 million in Mesa Natural Gas Solutions LLC, a Casper, Wyoming-based power solutions company. Mesa is backed by BP Energy Partners LLC.

- Stone-Goff Partners invested in Walker Sands, a Chicago-based marketing agency focused on accelerating the growth of B2B brands. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- MC Group, a portfolio company of Arcapita, acquired Icon, a provider of signage and interior solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER DEALS

- Facebook acquired Servicefriend, an Israel-based customer service bot for messaging. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- K2 Intelligence agreed to acquire Financial Integrity Network, a Washington, D.C.-based strategic advisory firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPOs

- BellRing Brands, a St. Louis-based protein powders and bars maker spinning off of Parent Post Holdings, filed to raise up to $100 million in an IPO. The firm posted sales of $827.5 million and profit of $96.1 million in the year ending 2018. It plans to list on the NYSE as “BRBR.” Read more.

- Innate Pharma, a Marseille, France-based commercial-stage biotech for cancer antibody therapies, filed for an $100 million IPO. The firm posted revenue of €94 million ($103.5 million) in 2018 and income of €3.1 million ($3.4 million). Novo Nordisk (13.9% pre-offering), MedImmune (9.8%), and Bpifrance (6.9%) back the firm. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as “IPHA.” Read more.

EXITS

- HP acquired Bromium, a Cupertino, Calif.-based security startup. Financial terms weren't disclosed. . Bromium had raised approximately $115 million in funding from investors including Silver Lake Waterman, Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Meritech Capital Partners.