NEW DELHI: Former Housing.com CEO and board director at Emaar, Jason Kothari , is in reckoning for the top job at SoftBank-backed American office-sharing company
WeWork
, along with three others, said people familiar with the matter.
Kothari, known for his ability to swiftly turn around ailing companies - most of them SoftBank-backed startups like
Snapdeal and Housing.com - is the only Indian among the people, who are being considered for leading and stabilising WeWork, following the forced departure of its co-founder Adam Neumann. It has also been reported that John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile US is one of the candidates. Kothari did not respond to queries from TOI.
When asked about the development, a SoftBank spokesperson said, "We don't comment on speculation." A WeWork spokesperson told TOI that Kothari being considered for the top post is not true. Kothari successfully led the turnaround of Softbank-backed Housing.com in one-and-half years, after its founder and CEO Rahul Yadav quit, following a spat with the investors.
Housing.com changed its strategy and business plan, hired new management team and reduced operating costs by 70% and raised and additional $20 million from Softbank under Kothari's watch.
Kothari, who served as chief strategy and investment officer at SoftBank-backed Snapdeal between January 2017 and June 2018, led the creation of Snapdeal 2.0 along with the founders and played a key role in restructuring the company. He helped the beleaguered e-tailer divest its non-core assets, including the sale of
FreeCharge
to Axis bank, which helped the startup raise $100 million for its core business.