WeWork

Article summary

WeWork Inc. is an American company headquartered in New York City that provides coworking spaces, including physical and virtual shared spaces, in approximately 600 buildings in 125 cities. WeWork was founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey. Over the following 10 years, the company raised $12.8 billion in financing at valuations as high as $47 billion, mostly from the SoftBank Vision Fund, led by Masayoshi Son. In September 2019, the company filed documentation to become a public company and revealed issues with corporate governance. Investors forced both the cancellation of the IPO and the resignation of Neumann. The company went public via a merger with a SPAC instead in 2021, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 6, 2023. As part of the bankruptcy reorganization, in 2024, Cupar Grimmond (an affiliate of Yardi Systems) acquired a 60% stake in the company, 20% was acquired by affiliates of SoftBank, and 20% was acquired by other investors. The company shrank its operations, selling all owned real estate and cancelling or amending hundreds of leases.

Key claims

1. date of foundation: 2010 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of foundation: 2011 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. employees: 2,400 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
4. employees: 250 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
5. members: 2,200 members — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
6. release date: 2021-04-02 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
7. students: 2018, students — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of foundation is "2010". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of foundation is "2011". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the employees is "2,400 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. The record states that the employees is "250 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
6. The record states that the members is "2,200 members". What evidence would count against this claim?
7. The record states that the release date is "2021-04-02". What evidence would count against this claim?
8. The record states that the students is "2018, students". What evidence would count against this claim?
9. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
10. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374379222