WeWork offers both a physical space and social community made to adjust to a company's specific characteristics. They work towards providing a space that will balance productivity, wellness, efficiency, and growth. Founded in 2010, it is headquartered in New York City. The company has an estimated total funding of $1 billion and a valuation of $10 billion.
In this article, we will analyze the story behind WeWork, their rise, and downfall, and of course, what lessons we can learn from them. This is a new series of videos and articles we call- Startup Forensics.
If you are in the startup world, you must know about WeWork. Chances are you are actually sitting in one, right now. Officially the 'We Company' was founded in 2010 and very quickly expanded to 836 locations (as of this writing), 15,000 employees, and over half a million members. It's the bright and classic startup Unicorn story. Except it isn't.
In mid- 2019, the company filed the documentation to prepare for an IPO (Initial Public Offering), that is, to begin trading in the stock market. This required them to publish their so-far secret financials.
Once the world had a look at their numbers, everyone quickly realized that the company founder and CEO, Adam Newman, had been selling smoke and mirrors. The company was not only far, far from being profitable, but Adam had been living an eccentric executive life that was costing the company millions.
The CEO was ousted. The valuation of the company went from a shocking $75B to an estimated $8B or less, and SoftBank, their lead investor, is preparing to rescue/acquire/take control of the company to save it from oblivion.
