Oct 23 2019, 10:35 AMOct 23 2019, 9:20 PMOctober 23 2019, 10:35 AMOctober 23 2019, 9:20 PM
Since SoftBank is not acquiring the majority of assets , the company will be an affiliate and not a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate . Had SoftBank taken control of the co - workspace operator , Japanese accounting rules would ’ve required it to consolidate the work into its financial statements , adding $ 22bn of debt and $ 47bn of lease obligations to the $ 250 of liabilities already on its balance sheet . By elevating WeWork from a passive investment to an associate , SoftBank no longer needs to mark to expand its holding every time WeWork raises fresh cash . Instead it only needs to include WeWork 's net assets on its balance sheet , and these are still positive , and it may be able to write off its operating losses against taxable income .