WeWork

How it happened

WeWork rented and subleased flexible office space under tech-startup branding, peaking at a ~$47B private valuation in early 2019 on SoftBank funding. A failed 2019 IPO exposed mounting losses and governance problems, ousting founder Adam Neumann and slashing its value. After a 2021 SPAC listing near $9B, it filed for Chapter 11 in November 2023 and reorganized as a private company. Glassdoor reviews chart the grind that followed: community-team staff reported being cut to a fraction of pre-COVID levels and left running entire buildings alone, as a company built on flexibility forced them onsite five days a week. They counted repeated layoff rounds while the 401(k) match and perks were stripped and equity went worthless.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.