In WeWork’s heyday, the office was lit. Kombucha in the water fountains, DJ sets at 5 p.m., and yoga balls where desk chairs should be. These days, expensive offices sit empty in cities across America. Adam Neumann, the co-founder and former CEO of WeWork, is reportedly trying to buy his company back in an effort to return the office to its glory days, according to DealBook on Tuesday.
Neumann has a new real estate company called Flow Global. Experts suggest that Flow could purchase WeWork today at a steep discount of just $US500 million far from its heyday of being worth billions.
When WeWork filed for bankruptcy back in November, Neumann released a statement saying “With the right strategy and team, a reorganization will enable WeWork to emerge successfully.” It’s now clear that when he was referring to himself.
The current owners of WeWork have reportedly been hesitant to sell out to Neumann. However, with the current state of commercial real estate, the company’s back may be against the wall. The return of Neumann seems imminent, and he’s coming to put kombucha back in our water fountains.
Since Neumann co-founded WeWork in 2010, corporate real estate has completely changed. WeWork was briefly the biggest tenant in many major working cities, with a valuation of $US47 billion. More than that, having a WeWork office was a cultural touchstone for most booming tech startups in the 2010s. In 2024, owning an office building has become a terrible business. The value of office buildings declined by $US590 billion nationally last year, as return-to-office mandates have failed to get workers back in person. WeWork filed for bankruptcy in November, marking the industry’s struggles in the era of remote work.
However, Neumann could be the one person who can inject some excitement into the flailing dumpster fire we call commercial real estate. The former CEO had a history of cultish projects while at WeWork, such as hostel-style living with WeLive and even elementary schools with WeGrow. Say what you will about Neumann, but he certainly got people excited about going to the office, even if that did involve initiating them into his workplace cult.
The company said goodbye to Neumann in 2019, when he stepped down as WeWork’s CEO after an embarrassing failure to take it public. Investors questioned whether WeWork was actually a tech company, and estimated its value as closer to $US15 billion. Neumann was ultimately given $US1.7 billion to leave WeWork.