WeWork: hyped start-up to investor darling to bankruptcy in just 13 years

Image of the week: We Don’t Work

The picture wires are awash with images of WeWork’s lower-cased logo emblazoned all over shiny new office blocks in cities across the globe. As of the end of June, the bankrupt company had 777 leases in 39 countries, with its website still listing three offices in Dublin, plus the One Central Plaza location at the former Central Bank building on Dame Street, which is allegedly “opening in 2024″.

Few images of the WeWork variety, however, will be more strikingly incongruous than the appearance of the office-sharing company’s name on this grand building in the Back Bay area of Boston next to engraved lettering from a different age.

The entity that was “chartered in 1835″ is New England Mutual Life Insurance, which was acquired by MetLife in the mid-1990s but achieved a longevity that seems doubtful right now for WeWork.

The erstwhile darling of the start-up world took just 13 years to secure the necessary finance, expand to a private valuation of $47 billion (€44 billion), lose its erratic co-founder Adam Neumann, go public, watch its share price collapse and file for US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Let the record show that the wheels started to come off before Covid prompted companies to realise they didn’t need to maintain the expense of running an office at all.

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In numbers: Portuguese drama

8

Years for which António Costa was prime minister of Portugal. He resigned this week amid a corruption and “influence peddling” investigation into his administration’s handling of lithium mining and hydrogen projects.

3%

Portuguese stocks declined this much in the wake of Costa’s resignation statement, in which he said his conscience was clear but “the dignity of the functions of prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion about his integrity, his good conduct and even less with the suspicion of the practice of any criminal act”.

40

Number of searches carried out at several Portuguese government buildings on Tuesday, while – in an all-round bad final day in power – police also raided Costa’s official residence and detained his chief of staff.

Getting to know: Lidiane Jones

Lidiane Jones has swapped work for love, and who would blame her? The Brazilian-American technology executive has opted to depart her chief executive role at Slack, the “productivity platform” company, after just a year to become chief executive of dating app Bumble, succeeding founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.

That Herd used to be a billionaire, but no longer makes the 10-digit wealth club, might give a pointer to how Bumble has been faring in recent times: its share price reached over $70 on its first day of trading after an initial public offering in 2021, but was $13.42 after the close of markets on Tuesday.

The dating app, on which women make the first move, faces fierce competition, but is not the only one to be off its game amid suggestions that Gen-Z, unlike their millennial elders, are less keen on using apps to meet people. Or maybe they’re just less keen on meeting people full stop, it’s hard to tell.

The list: Top Christmas toys

It is now 44 days until Christmas. That means every self-respecting toy retailer and manufacturer will have some sort of handle by now on what they hope/expect to fly from their shelves to the foot of your tree. So which are tipped to be bestsellers?

1. Barbie Dream House: Not to be confused with the Mojo Dojo Casa House – Ken’s valiant yet temporary attempt at a home makeover – the Barbie Dream House is set to be a key revenue-generator for Mattel this year after Greta Gerwig’s Barbie blockbuster smashed the box office.

2. Ninja Turtles Pizza Van: Smyth Toys predicts that this Ninja Turtles van will do the numbers. It comes with a giant plastic pizza slice on the roof rack that – while not the ideal method of transporting pizza – doubles as a button that activates a “pizza launcher”.

3. Gabby’s Dollhouse Girl Doll: Barbie who? Preschool-age children may instead be coveting a doll from the world of Gabby’s Dollhouse, the merch-friendly title of an animated series made for Netflix.

4. L.O.L. Surprise! Magic Flyers: Light flashes, rainbows, butterflies, flittering, fluttering – all very dainty – and marketed as having “an unboxing experience like never before”. The bad news is that there are three to collect.

5. Barbie Pop! Reveal Fruit Series: Tipped by both Smyths Toys and Hamleys, this scented doll comes with tropical-themed accessories and a cup of squishy slime. Good luck, parents.