Office giant WeWork files bankruptcy

Beleaguered shared office giant WeWork, which has been in dire financial straits for years, has filed for bankruptcy in a bid to negotiate down its debt.
The coworking company said its bankruptcy impacts operations in the United States and Canada, but "global operations are expected to continue as usual."

The bankruptcy filing was a stark turn of events for the New York-based company, which was once a startup darling promising to reshape the office sector globally.

It at one point attracted huge infusions from investors, including SoftBank and venture capital firm Benchmark.

WeWork was considered the most valuable U.S. startup as recently as 2019, worth $49 billion.

But elusive profitability, the rise of telecommuting, a drop in tenants and years of massive costs have hit the company hard.

In early August, WeWork warned the U.S. stock market regulator (SEC) that it feared for its survival: "Substantial doubt exists about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

Nonetheless, the company put a positive spin on the bankruptcy news.

"Now is the time for us to pull the future forward by aggressively addressing our legacy leases and dramatically improving our balance sheet," WeWork chief executive David Tolley said in a statement.

"We defined a new category of working, and these steps will enable us to remain the global leader in flexible work."

WeWork hopes to negotiate a "significant" reduction in its debt. In particular, the group hopes to "terminate the leases on a number of locations" that are not making enough money, pointing out that the owner companies "have received advance notice."

S&P said on Nov. 1 that WeWork was in "selective default" after failing to meet conditions...