WeWork pulled its IPO in 2019 after mulling a massive valuation cut to drum up investor interest, and cofounder Adam Neumann was ousted as chief executive and chairman. Real-estate veteran Sandeep Mathrani started as CEO in February and has kicked off a multi-year turnaround effort.
WeWork Chairman Marcelo Claure told the Financial Times in July that the company was on track to be cash-flow positive in 2021, thanks to aggressive cost cutting and a boost in demand from companies seeking flexible office arrangements because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, WeWork has been awash in vacancy in New York City, its biggest market, according to marketing materials seen by Business Insider. The flexible-workspace giant, which has almost 9 million square feet of office space in the city and is its largest office tenant by a wide margin, had nearly 1.9 million square feet of available space, over 20% of its portfolio.
We’ve also reported that Wells Fargo is not renewing its lease in a 750-person WeWork space in Charlotte, N.C. But Citi has signed a lease for a roughly 100-person WeWork space that’s not in a major city. WeWork has also leased a large new space in Jersey City for a planned spinoff of pharmaceutical company Merck.
WeWork shared second-quarter financials with staff on August 12, showing memberships fell in the quarter. Still, the coworking giant continued to add locations and nabbed a fresh $1.1 billion in financing from lead investor SoftBank.
Here's everything we know about what's going on inside WeWork:
Latest news
- WeWork nabbed a fresh $1.1 billion in financing from SoftBank as the coworking giant's membership dropped
- WeWork is turning to big brokerages like CBRE and JLL to help it find customers. It's a huge strategy shift that shows how hard office space is to fill right now.
- Wells Fargo is ditching a 750-person WeWork space, while Citi inked a deal with the flex-office giant far from a big city. Here's a look at how financial firms are retooling their real estate.
- 20% of WeWork's New York space is sitting empty. Here's a look at key vacancies the city's biggest office tenant is trying to fill.
- WeWork is leasing a big new office in Jersey City to house the headquarters of a planned spin-off from pharma giant Merck. Here's how the deal will work, and why it's a big win for the struggling coworking giant.
- WeWork faces 3 new discrimination and harassment lawsuits, including a complaint that says a manager brought knives and a crossbow to work
- WeWork is ditching a major Manhattan office it hasn't even moved into yet - and it's the first big step in a turnaround that's put its entire real-estate portfolio under review
- WeWork is bringing corporate staff back to New York offices in 3 waves as the city enters the next stage of reopening. Here are the details the coworking giant just gave workers.
- WeWork's other founder, Miguel McKelvey, is leaving the embattled office company - and his job as chief culture officer won't be replaced
- WeWork's US head of real estate is leaving the coworking giant as the firm works through a major turnaround attempt
- IBM is leaving a big WeWork office it rents in New York City - adding another vacancy into the flex-space market as blue-chip companies rethink real-estate needs
Layoffs
- Leaked WeWork document reveals a huge reorg under way for people who manage its buildings. Here's how the new structure works - and the complex process for staff to save their jobs.
- Flatiron School slashed at least 100 jobs and is permanently shuttering some campuses as part of bigger WeWork cuts.
- WeWork is rolling out global layoffs over Zoom and has kicked off talks to slash jobs in the UK as the coworking giant struggles to cope with coronavirus fallout
- Outsourced WeWork community service associates just lost their jobs - even as the coworking giant keeps offices open and charges members for space they can't use
Coronavirus hits coworking
- Women-focused coworking startup The Wing is being sued for almost $270,000 in rent and other charges at its Bryant Park location in New York
- Leaked Knotel financials reveal that the WeWork rival had huge pre-pandemic losses and now has more unpaid bills than cash. It's a grim sign for the flex-office space.
- WeWork's revenue growth rate was cut in half in Q1, as the company burned through nearly $500 million in 'free cash outflow'
- Leaked data shows the WeWork stakes that 10 big investors are stuck with - and how JPMorgan wanted to cash out $356 million from the struggling coworking giant
- As WeWork and flex-space rivals stumble, 18 million square feet of space in NYC is at risk. Here's what that means for the real-estate market.
- The coronavirus is a 'nuclear bomb' for companies like WeWork. 10 real-estate insiders lay out the future of flex-office, and how employers are preparing now.
- WeWork members are getting fed up paying rent while the coworking giant tries to catch a break on its own leases. Here's how 4 entrepreneurs are trying to get out.
- WeWork just gave its US tenants guidance on coronavirus outbreak - weeks after the outbreak started
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Lawsuits and investigations
- WeWork faces 3 new discrimination and harassment lawsuits, including a complaint that says a manager brought knives and a crossbow to work
- WeWork is set to vote on adding 2 new independent board members after big investors suing SoftBank unsuccessfully tried to stop it
- SoftBank's brutal treatment of WeWork founder Adam Neumann shows that it has given up any hope for Silicon Valley and it's leaving a scorched landscape in its wake
- Adam Neumann sues SoftBank for backing out of buying nearly $1 billion of his WeWork shares, saying the investor changed up the terms and he didn't sign off
- WeWork board members are suing SoftBank for backing out of its plan to buy $3 billion of shares, and former CEO Adam Neumann is still weighing legal options
Executive changes under CEO Sandeep Mathrani
- WeWork continues executive buildout with Baker Hughes CFO
- WeWork's new CEO just tapped AT&T and movie theater execs for c-suite roles to build out his leadership team
- WeWork's US president - and Adam Neumann's friend - will leave days after the firm's new CEO joins
- WeWork just announced a new COO in its first major hire under new CEO
Plotting a path forward
- WeWork's new CEO Sandeep Mathrani has to pull off one of the most difficult turnarounds Silicon Valley has ever seen. Insiders explain what he's like, and why he's the guy to do it.
- Real-estate giant JLL is gaining a key partnership as WeWork unloads its Managed by Q business at a fire-sale price
- WeWork is getting rid of free beer and wine on tap in all of its North American locations - here's how it's explaining the move
- WeWork is now paying a retainer of $500,000 a month to Publicis for crisis PR and advertising services just weeks after almost running out of cash
- WeWork just overhauled its compensation plan, and we have the full memo with details on cash bonuses, base salary changes, and new equity grants
SoftBank bailout
- SoftBank could walk away from the $3 billion WeWork stock buybacks it agreed to as part of its bailout plan: WSJ
- Read the memo WeWork's new chairman just sent to all staff outlining its 5-year plan using the New York City Marathon as a metaphor
- Read the email WeWork's co-CEOs sent to the troops after SoftBank brought in a new chairman to salvage the company
- Inside WeWork's all-hands meeting, where the new chairman from SoftBank addressed employee concerns about worthless stock options and Kanye West's 'Flashing Lights' played
- Read the email from WeWork's new chairman where he confirms layoffs and says: What we are lacking is focus' and 'accountability'
- SoftBank likely had the Vision Fund on its mind when it decided to rescue WeWork
Fallout after the failed IPO
- Life after WeWork: Laid-off employees take their next steps via Google docs, viral LinkedIn posts, and recruiting events hosted by ex-colleagues
- WeWork plans to outsource cleaning and maintenance in first step of big staff cuts, leaked email shows
- Goldman Sachs unloaded some of its WeWork shares before its investment bankers pitched investors on what it once considered a $60 billion-plus IPO
- Inside WeWork's troubled $850 million Lord & Taylor building: A tale of outsize ambition, audacious renovations, and now financial worries
- WeWork's school is closing at the end of the academic year as the company ditches passion projects to stem its huge losses
Neumann's exit
- The Kabbalah Connection: Insiders say a celebrity-centered religious sect deeply influenced how Adam Neumann ran WeWork before its spectacular collapse
- Sex, tequila, and a tiger: Employees inside Adam Neumann's WeWork talk about the nonstop party to attain a $100 billion dream and the messy reality that tanked it
- Governance sank WeWork from the start, a VC and Stanford lecturer says. Here's what any founder can learn from Adam Neumann's cautionary tale.
- At least 5 longtime members of Adam Neumann's inner circle are out, but cofounder Miguel McKelvey will remain as WeWork revamps itself
Tanking valuation
- WeWork's competitors are scrambling to distance themselves from the co-working giant, but many are following the same script
- WeWork cofounders Adam and Rebekah Neumann are close friends with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and invited them to Rebekah's extravagant 40th birthday bash in Italy
- The CEO of $1 billion WeWork rival Knotel says the idea of coworking is 'over'
- Tech IPO injury report: Some of the biggest names in tech have taken a beating after going public this year
- 3 VC investors in flex-space startups slam WeWork's governance and leadership as its valuation crumbles
- WeWork is doing increasing amounts of business with SoftBank, which is also its biggest investor
- The history of WeWork's meteoric valuation rise - and fall
Financials, business history, and real estate
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As WeWork and flex-space rivals stumble, 18 million square feet of space in NYC is at risk. Here's what that means for the real-estate market.
- 'We fell short in Q4': WeWork only hit 73% of an internal enterprise growth target in 2019, leaked memo shows
- WeWork paid over $2 million in cash to a woman who threatened to expose claims of sex, illegal drugs, and discrimination in a horrifying 50-page document
- A WeWork exec who was Rebekah Neumann's cousin regularly ran up huge expense reports before other execs ganged up and forced him out
- WeWork just released an investor presentation that offers numbers the company didn't include in its widely-derided IPO documents
- Insiders say WeWork's IT is a patchwork of cheap devices and Band-Aid fixes that will take millions to fix
- WeWork used massive discounts - in some cases, essentially giving away space for 2 years - to try to poach customers from rivals
Coworking rivals
- Office-rental startup Knotel bragged it was a nearly profitable anti-WeWork. Now lawsuits are stacking up. 12 insiders reveal what happened to the $400 million Knotel said it raised last year.
- Leaked memo reveals Knotel CEO's playbook for burying news about jobs cuts at the flex-office startup
- Flex-space unicorn Knotel just laid off 30% of workers and furloughed another 20% as the coronavirus cripples a once buzzy industry
- Brookfield-backed Convene just laid off 20% of its workforce as the coronavirus upends the flex-space and events industries
- Here's how 8 flex-office execs are battling the WeWork effect: Bigger customers, tamer decor, and partnering more with landlords
- Convene's CEO says the $500 million flex-space startup is a hospitality company that partners with real estate, not a tech company. Here's an inside look at the company's financials.
- Seduced by WeWork's sky-high valuation, coworking firms have multiplied. A shakeout could see them merge, shutter, or specialize.
Road to the failed IPO
- WeWork might be painting itself as a tech company, but it's facing a bunch of old-school real estate worries
- WeWork lays out its path to profitability - and most of its options involve slowing its breakneck growth
- Here are the 5 biggest questions facing WeWork as it prepares for its IPO
- WeWork is setting up a $2.9 billion fund to buy buildings that it will lease to itself
Neumann's leadership
- Meet Rebekah Neumann: Insiders describe the spiritual, strategic mastermind who was the driving force behind WeWork and her husband, Adam Neumann
- Adam Neumann demoted his chief of staff for being pregnant, a new complaint against the ousted CEO and WeWork alleges
- WeWork details CEO Adam Neumann's web of loans, real-estate deals, and family involvement with the company
- Lots of extremely successful founders in Silicon Valley cash out early. But WeWork's CEO pocketing $700 million is still far from normal.
- WeWork's CEO says the way it rents out office space makes companies' financials look better. Some experts aren't sure how legitimate the pitch is.
SoftBank's role
- Here's everything we know about how startups raise money from SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund
- WeWork's CEO raised $4.4 billion from a Saudi-backed fund, but said going forward he'd consider declining investments on moral grounds
- How WeWork's CEO grew a $10 billion relationship with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, whom he calls 'Yoda'
- It took a day for WeWork's CEO to recover from the shock of a $16 billion SoftBank investment falling apart
- WeWork and Uber are giving SoftBank a black eye, but that doesn't mean Vision Fund II is in trouble, experts say
