05/31/2024

WeWork Survived Bankruptcy

Now it has to make co-working pay off

WeWork is set to become a smaller—and potentially rightsized—company. Following a final hearing on its bankruptcy plan Thursday morning, the co-working pioneer will have fewer locations, a new influx of capital, and $4 billion in debt wiped from its books.

In a packed courtroom in Newark, New Jersey, Judge John Sherwood approved WeWork’s restructuring plan. WeWork expects to finally exit bankruptcy in mid-June. The plan also staved off a bid by WeWork’s controversial founder Adam Neumann, who had sought to buy back the company he’d founded before he was infamously ousted.

WeWork’s clean slate will coincide with a new era of working, one in which office workers have pushed back against returning to offices full-time; as of late 2023, nearly 20 percent of office space in the US sat vacant. Yet workers are also experiencing more loneliness, a problem that co-working companies argue they can address by bringing people together. WeWork’s reboot is a test of the future of co-working itself.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.