Co-working workplace house supplier WeWork has filed for chapter protecting its places within the US and Canada, and in a submitting, it stated it had liabilities of between $10 and $50 billion.
It’s the most recent flip for a corporation that went from being valued at $47 billion in January 2019 to unsuccessfully trying an IPO later that yr.
That paperwork revealed, multi function 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 alter its identify to The We Firm from WeWork, the corporate paid for naming rights from… Adam Neumann. It form 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 — when you’re not acquainted, we will clarify), and after scuffling with rising money owed and hefty losses ever since, it misplaced virtually 98 p.c 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 present’s submitting, WeWork is requesting the power to reject the leases of sure places, that are largely non-operational and all affected members have acquired superior discover.” The corporate says it has reached restructuring agreements with collectors holding 92 p.c of its debt.
A rise in distant working following the covid pandemic is credited as a contributing consider WeWork’s fall from monetary grace, in addition to its huge operational prices.
On October thirtieth, WeWork informed the US Securities and Change 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 supposed 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 hire and curiosity — over 80 p.c of its complete income.