SoftBank said five closing conditions were not met since it signed the deal in October, and raised concerns about the “existence of multiple, new and significant pending criminal and civil investigations.” (Bloomberg, The Information)

Talking point: In the short term, the person who loses out the most here is WeWork co-founder and ex-CEO Adam Neumann, who was set to make up to US$970 million selling shares to SoftBank and is now threatening to sue. He’s also no longer a billionaire, with his net worth dropping from US$13.5 billion to US$450 million in less than a year. Long-term, though, SoftBank’s reluctance is a major issue for WeWork, which spent US$1.4 billion in the last three months of 2019, nearly all the cash SoftBank gave it in October 2019. WeWork has been keeping most of its co-working spaces open despite COVID-19, but almost no one is in them.