WeWork has been the subject of a documentary, a television series, books, and many a news story—but it’s still interesting to see the company’s newly-appointed CEO, David Tolley, offer his own narration of how one of the world’s most valuable startups ended up in bankruptcy.
Yesterday Tolley, an 11-year Blackstone veteran, did just that. In a 180-page declaration that was filed into New Jersey Bankruptcy Court yesterday afternoon as part of WeWork’s Chapter 11 proceeding, Tolley laid out a pretty detailed timeline of the company’s history—all the way from its founding story, to its botched IPO, its SPAC merger, and troubles from the COVID pandemic. He even discussed in a footnote some of the side projects WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann had experimented with (remember his fitness center venture—Rise by We?).
After CEO Neumann resigned in 2019 over the company’s failed IPO, new management had tried to focus on long-term profitability. They were shortly greeted by the COVID pandemic, which sent people working from home and left offices empty. WeWork memberships declined severely. And then rising interest rates led real estate owners to drop rent and sell office space for cheap—upping competition for WeWork.
“WeWork lacks the necessary financial flexibility to adjust to the rapidly shifting commercial real estate market,” Tolley wrote in his declaration. WeWork’s CEO said that the company is amending 590 leases it has with property owners, reducing future rent obligations by over $12 billion, according to the bankruptcy filings. The company is working to up that number by another 400 leases, too.
But none of that will be enough to pay back the more than 100,000 creditors to which the company owes money. Documents show WeWork has $15 billion of assets—and over $18 billion of liabilities.
Tolley, of course, added his own attempt at a positive spin to the bankruptcy: “As WeWork emerges from these Chapter 11 cases, it will be particularly well-positioned to capitalize on this revenue growth opportunity with a global portfolio of profitable leases, well-established market connections, and most importantly, a community united by passion and entrepreneurship. These Chapter 11 cases are the next step in that journey.”
But it may be hard for the rest of us—and particularly for WeWork’s investors—to see this as a good thing. Bankruptcies wreak havoc on a company’s shareholders, as the stock becomes effectively worthless. It’s nothing short of incredible to see WeWork, which was valued by SoftBank at $47 billion just four years ago, now being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, with a judge in charge of deciding which of WeWork’s lenders will get paid back what. Bloomberg estimates that SoftBank has suffered from $11.5 billion in equity losses and another $2.2 billion in debt could still be on the line.
As for Neumann, he said in a statement Monday evening that it’s “been challenging for me to watch from the sidelines since 2019 as WeWork has failed to take advantage of a product that is more relevant today than ever before.”
“I believe that, with the right strategy and team, a reorganization will enable WeWork to emerge successfully,” he said.
In other news…Coatue has cut the value of its OpenSea shares by 90%, according to a report yesterday in The Information. My colleague Ben Weiss reported that mere days after OpenSea laid off half its staff, executives at the crypto company embarked on a company retreat to a $9 million mansion once owned by Katy Perry and Russell Brand. Sounds nice.
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Enable, a San Francisco-based rebate management platform, raised $120 million in Series D funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Menlo Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Insight Partners, and Sierra Ventures.
- May Mobility, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based developer of technology for autonomous vehicles, raised $105 million in Series D funding. NTT Group led the round and was joined by Toyota Ventures, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Company, and others.
- Qomodo, a Milan, Italy-based provider of payment solutions for physical retailers, including a buy now pay later option, raised €34.5 million ($36.9 million) in pre-seed funding. Fasanara Capital led the round and was joined by Notion Capital, Exor Ventures, Proximity Capital, and others.
- Ritual, a global decentralized platform for AI, raised $25 million in funding. Archetype led the round and was joined by Accomplice and Robot Ventures.
- Needed, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based company that develops nutrition products for prenatal care, raised $14 million in funding. The Craftory led the round and was joined by Seae Ventures and Crescent Ridge VC.
- Frenetic, a Madrid, Spain-based designer and manufacturer of magnetic components, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Kibo Ventures led the round and was joined by 42Cap, Join Capital, Bankinter, Bonsai, and Big Sur.
- AppMap, a Boston, Mass.-based developer of code visualization and code review analysis technology, raised $10 million in funding from Work-Bench Ventures, Forgepoint Capital, Venture Guides, Unusual Ventures, and others.
- Protecto, a San Francisco-based data privacy platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Together Fund led the round and was joined by Better Capital, FortyTwo VC, Arali Ventures, and Speciale Invest.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Advantive, backed by ST6 Partners, acquired Abaca Systems, a Manchester, U.K.-based provider of packaging solution software. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Ardurra Group, a portfolio company of Littlejohn, acquired Arredondo, Zepeda & Brunz, a Dallas, Texas-based transportation, water, aviation, transit, and survey firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Brentwood Associates and Sixth Street acquired a majority stake in Far West Services, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based franchisee of Wingstop restaurants. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Everest Clinical Research, a portfolio company of Arlington Capital Partners, acquired August Research, a Sofia, Bulgaria-based provider of clinical trials and other services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Grace Hebert Curtis Architects, backed by Bernhard Capital, acquired Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford, a Fort Worth, Texas-based architecture firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- HCI Equity Partners recapitalized Tri-State Enterprises, a Fort Smith, Ark.-based distributor of automotive parts, consumables, accessories, and paint. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Vertu Capital acquired ActiveState Software, a Vancouver, Canada-based company designed to help software developers securely create and manage programs that use open source programming languages. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Vivify Specialty Ingredients, backed by Gryphon Investors, acquired Access Ingredients, an Arcadia, Calif.-based distributor of specialty ingredients for the personal care industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- MidOcean Partners acquired Smith System Driver Improvement Institute, an Arlington, Texas and Borehamwood, U.K.-based workplace safety training platform and provider of driver safety training for commercial fleets, from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- FLEETCOR Technologies acquired PayByPhone, a Vancouver, Canada-based provider of digital parking payment solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Granite Creek Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, raised $300 million for its third fund focused on companies in manufacturing, business services, agribusiness, and other industries.
- Harvest Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, raised $5.3 billion in its ninth fund focused on companies in business and industrial services, industrials, healthcare, and software.
PEOPLE
- Permira, a London, U.K.-based private equity firm, hired Jeffrey Berkowitz as a senior advisor to its global healthcare team. He is currently the CEO of Real Endpoints.
- Zeal Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm, hired Stefanie Thomas as managing director. Formerly, she was with Impact America Fund.
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