WeWork Reveals 90-Day Plan To Turn Company Around

WeWork, the embattled office space company, has revealed a “90-day game plan” that includes huge changes to the company, including the divestiture of all if its “non-core businesses” and layoffs, according to a report by CNBC.

The changes are outlined in a 50-page presentation that was written in October but revealed on Friday (Nov. 8).

WeWork is going to divest several ventures, including The Wing, Managed by Q, Meetup, Space IQ, Teem, Wave Garden and Conductor.

The company said that job cuts will come throughout the company but that the community teams who manage the company’s physical locations won’t be affected.

WeWork will focus on its core business, which is co-working. It wants to “re-energize employees” and “realign performance incentives,” and focus on enterprise customers rather than smaller businesses like startups.

In an apparent reference to the company’s former CEO, Adam Neumann, WeWork said it would be helmed by “proven executives in membership-focused, subscription-based businesses” instead of being “founder led.” Neumann was replaced by Sebastian Gunningham and Artie Minson.

The first half of the year’s occupancy rates were down, WeWork said. It stands at 81 percent versus 84 percent a year ago.

In related news, Japan’s SoftBank reported a $6.5 billion loss on Wednesday (Nov. 6), its first quarterly drop-off in 14 years and far larger than analysts’ estimates.

The $10-plus billion WeWork bailout — an investment CEO Masayoshi Son called an error in judgment — triggered a loss of 970 billion yen ($8.9 billion) at SoftBank’s Vision Fund and a smaller fund.

“There was a problem with my own judgment; that’s something I have to reflect on,” Son said at a news conference following the quarterly earnings report.

For the July-September quarter overall, SoftBank recorded a net loss of 704.4 billion yen ($6.5 billion) after write-downs in WeWork and other investments.

“Today’s earnings are a mess,” Son said. “It’s red all over.”