Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
January 9 marked 90 days since WeWork presented investors a 90-day turnaround plan to keep the company afloat after its disastrous attempt to go public last year.
But when Japanese conglomerate SoftBank took over the company, the plan was thrown out the window.
“In November, WeWork’s new executive leadership laid out the company’s go-forward strategy, focused on delivering strategic and profitable growth and an exceptional experience for our members,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Since SoftBank’s takeover, the company has laid off 20% of its employees, slowed down on new leases and shut down its several side projects, such as its education branch WeGrow.
In order to focus on its core business, the company is working to sell off other acquisitions and investments it has made in companies such as Managed by Q, The Wing and wave pool company Wave Garden.
WeWork has had a reputation of massively expanding its presence, even through it’s excruciating path to an IPO. Now, the company is looking to back out of 100 previously signed leases.
The company laying off 2,400 of WeWork staffers was one of the first and most predictable moves made. Its staff of 1,000 maintenance and service workers were transferred to JLL while retaining their posts.
Marcelo Claure, executive chairman, said that moving forward WeWork would change the way it treats current and future employees. He called this method an “ownership model” where contracts will come with “competitive base salary, an annual cash bonus, and long-term incentives.”
