SoftBank Group Corp.’s 9984, -0.84% Vision Fund has agreed to sell its nearly 50% stake in Wag Labs Inc. back to the struggling dog-walking startup, according to people familiar with the matter, marking another disappointment for the Japanese investing giant.
Wag, which earlier this year laid off several dozen employees, is letting go a significant amount of the remainder of its workforce today, according to one of the people and an internal memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
In a memo sent to Wag employees Monday, Chief Executive Garrett Smallwood said: “We are amicably parting ways with SoftBank and SoftBank will no longer have board representation.”
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He added: “Today, we said goodbye to a number of our friends and colleagues as we align our organization with the needs of our business.”
Through its app, Wag offers on-demand dog-walking services around the U.S. through a network of tens of thousands of dog walkers. Its other investors include venture firms General Catalyst, Battery Ventures and Acme.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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