The rise and fall of WeWork

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Founded in 2010, WeWork's initial concept of providing flexible office spaces quickly gained traction, achieving unicorn status by 2014. The company's valuation soared to $47 billion in January 2019, fuelled by substantial investments, particularly from SoftBank.

There was nothing wrong with the WeWork concept. In fact, it was great, and one that I personally love. I’ve worked in a co-working space very similar to WeWork for the last six years, and it’s been brilliant. It feels a bit like working in Google’s offices.

The problem wasn’t the product; the issue was with how it was managed. It could have been a fantastic business, but it was led by co-founder Adam Neumann, whose leadership, combined with an aborted IPO and huge financial losses, essentially wrecked the company. It became a valuation-inflated monstrosity, and in the end, Neumann had to resign.

This led to a sharp drop in value and a failed attempt to restructure, including a rather shady and desperate SPAC merger in 2021. Since its IPO, the company has lost 98 percent of its market cap.

The Covid-19 pandemic, shifts towards remote work, and rising global interest rates have led to significant doubts about its future viability. These were tough times for the co-working business, but many of them got through this period and are now doing well. WeWork, for all intents and purposes, should have worked, and management is solely to blame for its failure.

Source: Visual Capitalist

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