WeWork files for bankruptcy – The Verge

Co-working workplace house supplier WeWork has filed for chapter masking its areas within the US and Canada, and in a submitting, it mentioned it had liabilities of between $10 and $50 billion.

It’s the newest flip for an organization that went from being valued at $47 billion in January 2019 to unsuccessfully making an attempt an IPO later that yr.

That paperwork revealed, multi functional place, the next issues: that Neumann was renting his personal buildings to The We Firm, that Neumann had secured loans from The We Firm, and that to vary its identify to The We Firm from WeWork, the corporate paid for naming rights from… Adam Neumann. It sort of began to really feel like the purpose of The We Firm, lofty language about “elevating” one’s “consciousness” apart, was simply to give Adam Neumann cash.  

The corporate ultimately went public in 2021 by way of a special-purpose acquisition firm (SPAC — in the event you’re not acquainted, we are able to clarify), and after scuffling with growing money owed and hefty losses ever since, it misplaced virtually 98 % of its inventory valuation within the final yr and shares have been buying and selling at 83 cents earlier than a halt early Monday.

Within the press launch asserting its Chapter 11 submitting, the corporate says, “As a part of at this time’s submitting, WeWork is requesting the flexibility to reject the leases of sure areas, that are largely non-operational and all affected members have obtained superior discover.” The corporate says it has reached restructuring agreements with collectors holding 92 % of its debt.

A rise in distant working following the covid pandemic is credited as a contributing think about WeWork’s fall from monetary grace, in addition to its large operational prices.

On October thirtieth, WeWork instructed the US Securities and Alternate Fee that it had made agreements with collectors to briefly postpone a few of its debt funds. A Wall Road Journal report final week that WeWork meant to file for Chapter 11 chapter famous that since its founding, the corporate had amassed $16 billion in losses as of June 2023 and was nonetheless paying over $2.7 billion a yr in lease and curiosity — over 80 % of its total income.