Adam Neumann, the former chief executive and co-founder of WeWork, has made an offer to buy the bankrupt co-working company for more than $500m, the Wall Street Journal reported. He said last month he was working on a bid – five years after he was ousted from the business following a failed stock market listing. It’s not clear how Neumann is funding the bid. Last month, Neumann’s lawyers sent a letter to WeWork’s advisers saying he was teaming up with Dan Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund and other investors in exploring a bid for the company. We reported last month that lawyers representing Neumann’s new venture, Flow Global, wrote to WeWork advisers revealing he had been trying to meet with the company for months to negotiate a deal to buy back the company or provide it with debt financing. But WeWork advisers appeared hesitant to go to the negotiating table with the company’s former CEO. Neumann’s lawyers said WeWork had had a “lack of engagement” with him and had not given him the information he needs to make an offer to purchase the company or finance its debt. The company has more than $4bn in debt, according to the New York Times. Over here, the online fashion retailer Asos said sales fell 18% in the six months to 3 March. It said this was in line with previous guidance, and expects sales to decline by between 5% and 15% in the full year. The company has been reducing the amount of stock it holds in an attempt to improve profitability, and reported a near £300m annual loss in November. Asos has embarked on a turnaround plan, and said today: "Good progress on implementing the Back to Fashion strategy, including action to clear aged stock and transition to the new operating model by FY25. Ahead on plan to improve stock efficiency and reduce inventory to £600m by year end." The US faces a market shock similar to the one seen in the UK after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget, unless the US government reins in the country’s ballooning federal debt, according to the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog. Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, told the Financial Times that rising US debt is on an “unprecedented” trajectory and could risk a Truss-style crisis that sent borrowing costs soaring and caused a run on the pound. Truss quit after just 45 days as UK prime minister markets took fright at her package of unfunded tax cuts. Japan would not rule out any measures to prop up the sliding yen, its finance minister said, in the latest warning to currency speculators, and a week after the country’s historic shift away from years of negative interest rates. Shunichi Suzuki said today that excess volatility was bad for the economy: "Rapid currency moves are undesirable.It is important for currencies to move stably, reflecting economic fundamentals." The yen’s sell-off intensified after the Bank of Japan decided to end eight years of negative interest rates, ushering in a new era in a nation that has become used to cheap money. A weaker yen benefits Japan’s exporters but also raises the costs of imports, can drive up inflation and squeeze households’ incomes. The agenda • 12.30pm GMT: US Durable goods orders for February (forecast: 1.1% monthly gain) • 2pm GMT: US Conference Board Consumer confidence for March We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
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