WeWork
WeWork is planning to lay off between 10% and 25% of its workforce.
- WeWork is planning to lay off between 10% and 25% of its workforce, a source familiar with the situation told Business Insider.
- The cuts come as new CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham try to focus on WeWork's core business after a tumultuous lead up to a shelved initial public offering.
- To read our investigation into WeWork's wild culture, click here.
WeWork is planning massive layoffs that will number in the thousands as new leaders of the embattled shared-space company look to focus on its core business and reduce costs, a source familiar with the matter said.
WeWork executives haven't yet finalized the specific cuts, but the numbers will be "in the thousands" - though less than the 3,000 to 5,000 layoffs that had been laid out in earlier media reports, said the source.
WeWork has about 12,500 employees, so a cut of 1,000 to 3,000 people would be about 10%-25% of its staff.
Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday that WeWork had announced layoffs to staff but did not provide a number.
Job cuts have been rumored for weeks as co-founder Adam Neumann stepped down and new co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham stepped in to replace the unconventional leader.
Minson and Gunningham are also looking to sell some of the companies WeWork purchased in recent years, as well as the Gulfstream G650 the company bought last year for $60 million. WeWork is also reportedly considering slowing its expansion in China, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The company expanded rapidly in recent years, counting more than 500 locations globally this year from just over 100 in 2017. The growth was fueled by billions in venture capital investments, most notably from Japanese investor SoftBank.
On Monday, the new CEOs said they would shelve its IPO, though they said in a statement that being a public company is still the goal.
See more: How WeWork spiraled from a $47 billion valuation to talk of bankruptcy in just 6 weeks
Co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham said in a statement: "We have decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business, the fundamentals of which remain strong. We are as committed as ever to serving our members, enterprise customers, landlord partners, employees and shareholders. We have every intention to operate WeWork as a public company and look forward to revisiting the public equity markets in the future."
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