WeWork’s filing for bankruptcy protection marks the latest chapter in the 13 years since the start of the high-profile global flexible office space provider. Here’s a look at the history of the New York-based company that helped make coworking part of the cultural lexicon.
2010: WeWork was founded with its first location at 154 Grand St. in lower Manhattan. It had 450 members that year, according to a 2019 regulatory filing.
2011: WeWork entered the San Francisco market. It ended the year with 2,000 members.
2014: WeWork expanded internationally to London and Israel. It ended the year with 15,000 members in eight cities.
2016: WeWork introduced an enterprise membership offering that targeted companies with at least 500 employees.
August 2017: WeWork announced a $4.4 billion initial investment from Japanese investment giant SoftBank and the SoftBank Vision Fund said to value WeWork at $20 billion. “WeWork is leveraging the latest technologies and its own proprietary data systems to radically transform the way people work,” SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said at the time.
September 2018: WeWork said it became the largest private occupier of office space in Manhattan with 5.3 million square feet, moving ahead of four banking giants. It also claimed the top tenant spot in London and Washington, D.C., that year.
January 2019: SoftBank was said to have invested another $2 billion in WeWork that valued the company at $47 billion.
February 2019: WeWork bought Manhattan’s iconic Lord & Taylor building for $850 million before selling the property a year later to tech giant Amazon.
August 2019: WeWork filed its highly anticipated paperwork for an initial public stock offering that was later shelved. The filing provided the first detailed look at the money-losing company’s financial details and business plans.
September 2019: Adam Neumann, WeWork’s charismatic co-founder, stepped down as CEO amid corporate governance concerns that derailed the company’s first planned IPO attempt.
November 2019: WeWork said it was laying off 2,400 employees, 20% of its global headcount, following billion-dollar losses and the canceled IPO.
February 2020: Veteran retail real estate executive Sandeep Mathrani joined WeWork as CEO.
May 2020: Masayoshi Son reportedly said he was “foolish” for making SoftBank’s investment in WeWork, which was said to have totaled $18.5 billion.
June 2020: WeWork co-founder, Miguel McKelvey, announced he was leaving the company.
September 2020: WeWork unveiled its all-access memberships providing members use of its locations around the world.
March 26, 2021: WeWork announced a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company BowX Acquisition Corp. that would result in WeWork becoming a publicly listed company with a valuation of about $9 billion.
January 2022: WeWork said it was buying Dallas-based boutique flexible space provider Common Desk, which has expanded through management agreements with landlords without taking on leasing risk.
July 19, 2022: WeWork unveiled WeWork Workplace space management software that it built in partnership with real estate software provider Yardi.
Nov. 10, 2022: WeWork said it planned to close 40 U.S. underperforming shared office locations, adding to over 240 full-lease exits and 480 lease amendments it had engineered since the beginning of 2020.
March 17, 2023: WeWork announced a financial restructuring that involved reducing its debt by $1.5 billion and getting over $1 billion in new funding and capital commitments after deals with investors, including majority shareholder SoftBank.
May 16, 2023: WeWork said Sandeep Mathrani was stepping down and named board member David Tolley as interim CEO.
Aug. 8, 2023: WeWork warned that “substantial doubt exists” about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern unless it can improve liquidity and profitability over the following 12 months.
Sept. 1, 2023: WeWork completed a 1-for-40 reverse stock split after its shares slumped to below $1 each and the company was at risk of being delisted on the New York Stock Exchange.
Sept. 6, 2023: WeWork said it planned to renegotiate nearly all its leases as the firm called lease obligations its biggest turnaround obstacle.
Oct. 16, 2023: WeWork named Tolley, a former Blackstone Group executive, as permanent CEO.
Nov. 6, 2023: WeWork filed for bankruptcy.