Late Monday, Nov. 7, WeWork, the office-sharing company, announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said it intends to trim “non-operational” leases.
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“Now is the time for us to pull the future forward by aggressively addressing our legacy leases and dramatically improving our balance sheet,” said David Tolley, WeWork CEO. “We defined a new category of working, and these steps will enable us to remain the global leader in flexible work.
According to the company, along with filing for bankruptcy, WeWork is implementing a “restructuring support agreement” in which the majority of the company’s lenders agreed to convert its secured debt into equity, effectively getting rid of around $3 billion of debt.
In August, WeWork sounded the alarms in a financial filing that said, “substantial doubt exists about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
WeWork, which Japan’s Softbank backs, was once valued at $47 billion in 2019, the same year it attempted but failed to go public, which led to the ouster of its founder.
After eventually going public two years later, at a reduced valuation of $9 billion, the company faced roadblocks with the pandemic leading to hybrid and work-from-home options.
Shares of WeWork have dropped approximately 98% this year alone.
While WeWork leases millions of square feet of office space in 777 locations across 39 countries, the bankruptcy filing affects only WeWork’s sites in the U.S. and Canada.
