Sep 28, 2019

We(re)Work: One week, many changes

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

It's been just a few days since WeWork fired CEO Adam Neumann, but his co-CEO replacements Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham have already made a number of significant changes.

Why it matters: The company still needs to raise new capital from somewhere, so turnaround speed is of the essence.

What we know

Over 20 senior executives close to Neumann have been fired, including wife Rebekah (chief brand officer), Michael Gross (vice chairman), and Chris Hill (chief product officer and CEO of WeWork Japan).

  • There also are expectations of widespread layoffs in upcoming weeks.

WeWork will seek to sell 3 non-core businesses that it paid more than $500 million to acquire over the past 2 years: Conductor, Meetup and Managed by Q.

  • It is unclear if the company's WeGrow elementary school will continue, although the company is committed to finishing out at least this school year.

It also will sell a private Gulfstream jet for which it paid $60 million last year.

The company is leaning toward pulling its IPO filing, although hasn't so far as to maintain optionality. It currently has around $2 billion of cash on hand and is owed another $1.5 billion next year from shareholder SoftBank, with reports that SoftBank may increase its investment if it can change the original deal terms.

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