Once considered one of the hottest startups out there and valued at a staggering $47 billion, it’s hard to fathom how far and how quickly WeWork has fallen in a matter of just a few years. It was January 2019 when WeWork secured a $6 billion investment from SoftBank at the above-mentioned valuation, renamed itself the We Company and expressed its lofty ambitions: “WeWork’s mission is to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living. WeLive’s mission is to build a world where no one feels alone. WeGrow’s mission is to unleash every human’s superpowers.”
Two and half years, a dodged IPO and one ousted co-founder and CEO later, WeWork did finally go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in October 2021, leaving the company with a $9 billion valuation. By then, Covid-19 had already changed the world, however. And most importantly, the way “we work” was no longer the same. Demand for office space plummeted as millions of workers continued working from home even after restrictions were lifted and WeWork continued bleeding money.
Three months ago, SoftBank revealed in an SEC filing that it had lost a total of $18.6 billion on its investments in WeWork over the years – a costly mistake that SoftBank’s founder and CEO Masayoshi Son described as “foolish” and “wrong” during an earnings call in May 2020 – hence before WeWork’s near-terminal decline. Following a 1-for-40 reverse stock split on September 1, WeWork's share price closed at $0.84 last Friday, down 99.8 percent since the company's stock market debut in late October 2021.
