Photos from WeWork's famed extravagant annual Halloween parties
It's relatively simple to find scenes inside WeWork's crazy Halloween parties — the company has posted teasers and promotional videos of parties from a few years on video-sharing platform Vimeo.
The location and details of WeWork Halloween parties haven't been kept secret. WeWork has promoted tickets to WeWork members via publicly available URLs, and has readily shared information in social media posts.
It's not clear when WeWork, founded in 2010, first started throwing its Halloween parties in New York. But the first social media-documented bash is from 2012, when WeWork held it at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, a trendy arts center on the Lower East Side.
Source: Eventbrite
WeWork sold tickets for its 2012 Halloween party for $35, which admitted one WeWork members and one guest. Guests could also pay more to donate to Charity: Water, and WeWork said it would match donations. However, due to Hurricane Sandy, the 2012 party was apparently cancelled.
Source: Eventbrite, WeWork on Vimeo
However, the 2013 Halloween party was more successful, and was not inhibited by any natural disasters. The event was held at New York's Edison Ballroom in midtown Manhattan. According to WeWork's Instagram, tickets started at $45, which included an open bar.
Source: WeWork on Instagram
The 5.5-hour party featured performances from a Spice Girls cover band, as well as an electronic music DJ, White Panda.
Source: WeWork on Vimeo
Even more, WeWork's video on Vimeo appears to show CEO Adam Neumann at the party, standing on a balcony above the crowd and raising his drink in salute the dancing attendees below.
Source: WeWork on Vimeo
In 2014, WeWork moved its Halloween party over to Hammerstein Ballroom, a popular concert venue with the capacity to hold up to 2,200 people. The annual party has been held there since.
Source: BizBash
It's fitting that WeWork held its Halloween parties at a concert venue, as the company is known for featuring musicians and performers at its events. WeWork summer retreats have featured artists like Lorde and Bastille, and Neumann once brought in a Run DMC member after an all-hands meeting about layoffs.
Source: Business Insider, Wall Street Journal
The 2014 Halloween party — with the theme, "Dark Side of the Moon" — featured appearances from Busta Rhymes and Wyclef Jean, a Haitian singer who was a member of the 1990s hip-hop group The Fugees.
Source: Check in Tech
The following year, WeWork brought out Rick Ross. The rapper of "Hustlin'" fame performed some of his greatest hits at the 2015 Halloween party.
Source: Facebook
WeWork's 2015 party was Midnight Circus themed, and the venue was decorated elaborately to reflect it. Costumes that attendees come to the events in aren't only to celebrate Halloween, but often have reflected each year's party themes as well.
Source: Facebook
In celebration of the theme "3016," electronic band Empire of the Sun performed at WeWork's 2016 event.
Source: Instagram
WeWork's Halloween parties beyond New York seem to have reflected the same theme as its flagship event each year. The 2017 parties were centered around Great Gatsby, as shown in photos from WeWork's San Francisco party.
At last year's party, WeWork paid for popular DJs Laidback Luke and Krewella. The party was themed around the question "What is Real?" purporting illusion and mystery.
Source: Eventbrite
A photo posted by Neumann's sister, Adi Neumann, appears to show her at last year's WeWork party, although it's unclear which location's party she attended. The since-ousted CEO was not spotted in any photos from the party, however.
A WeWork employee shared with Business Insider in September a startling experience he had with some employees a few weeks before Halloween 2018.
The employee told Business Insider: "A member of my team, a white male, he pulls out his phone and he said he dressed up as Dr. J — the basketball player — for Halloween, and he shows everybody a picture of him doing blackface. He showed the picture around and I looked around and nobody seemed shocked at all."
The experience made him think differently about his team, he told Business Insider. "I was surprised that, at that time it was 2018, nobody on the team ... said anything about it."
As for this year's Halloween, there's no big New York party happening, a WeWork spokesperson told Business Insider. There are still some smaller offshoots planned for other locations, including a 90s-themed event happening Wednesday in the Philippines. WeWork told Business Insider that that event is "basically a meet-and-greet" to celebrate employees in the area.
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