Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Cat Johnson – Coworking Marketing Maven
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak – Competitive Advantage
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Jeremy Fennema – Tech Innovation Alchemist
Martijn Roordink, cofounder of Amsterdam-based coworking company Spaces, has consistently denied that him nor his office space are “hip and trendy.”
Coworking spaces have often been synonymous with cool, modern work alternatives, but Roordink does not want that to take away from the hard work operators put into their office spaces.
Despite all their effort, when Spaces was bought out by the International Workplace Group (IWG), the company continued to face much backlash.
Now, IWG is evidently seeking out prospective buyers for Spaces, but Roordink has yet to comment on these reports.
This is not the first time private equity firms have taken over a flexible office company. For example, Blackstone took a portion of The Office Group in 2017.
Some property agents and other experts warn that the long-term leases coworking operators take out could be in trouble as they face a possible recession.
Mat Oakley, head of commercial research at Savills, expects some coworking firms to go bust this year and that being seen as trendy will not be enough to keep them afloat.
Regardless, many large companies (think Microsoft and Spotify) are enlisting operators to open offices for them as the sector continues to grow.
