WeWork Unloads Business Software Company In Pursuit Of Profits

WeWork has sold its business management software company Teem and also the minority stake it had in startup The Wing, to focus its business going forward.

The real estate company has also been gradually selling off shares in its side ventures as it tries to maximize its profits.

Co-CEO Artie Minson said in a press release Wednesday (Jan. 22) that the company was honing in on its 90-day game plan to divest all of the businesses not directly central to the company’s core, which would hopefully turn WeWork’s troubles around.

He said it was continuing to execute its plan every day and that selling off Teem and The Wing would allow WeWork to continue to evolve, letting its team focus on delivering “exceptional experience” for its members.

Teem, which WeWork acquired in 2018, will now be run by workplace experience company iOFFICE. WeWork’s minority stake in The Wing was sold to a number of entities acting as a consortium, including GV, the venture arm of Alphabet, and other venture firms, Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates. Actress Mindy Kaling also participated.

According to CNBC, terms of the deal were not disclosed and none of the parties had any comments.

Other assets WeWork has sold include marketing company Conductor in December, and it also wound down restaurant co-working startup Spacious, which it acquired in August.

They say they’ll be closing WeGrow, an early education school, after the 2020 school year concludes, and sales of event organizing platform Meetup and office management company Q are also in the process. If all of the closures go through, WeWork’s global office footprint will decline by 15 percent.

The company also laid off 2,400 employees in November and may lay off more in the months to come.

The problems with WeWork have been mounting since it pulled its IPO filing last September, with investors balking at the mounting losses and unorthodox corporate governing structure. They were about to run out of cash when SoftBank gave them a bailout deal — although that has begun to show complications as well, as the cost was higher than SoftBank initially anticipated.