WeWork, which rented out shared office workspaces, was founded in 2010 and was once hailed as the future of the office. The company experienced losses due to its aggressive global expansion.

The workspace provider filed for bankruptcy in 2023, struggling with the sharp drop in demand for office space caused by the pandemic.

WeWork utilised its bankruptcy to negotiate a substantial reduction in future rent costs with its landlords, reaching agreements to save $8 billion in future rent expenses. The company also cancelled leases at 160 of its 450 locations during the bankruptcy process.

The provider has said it plans to continue operating 337 shared office spaces globally, which is around half the number of June 2023.

The US and Canada will remain its biggest market, with more than 170 locations in the market.

The changes to the business also include a new owner, Yardi Systems, which supplies software to office and residential landlords. The firm has taken a majority stake in the company in exchange for providing $450 million in financing, along with other investors.

At its peak, the company had been valued at $47 billion, with investors including the Japanese multinational SoftBank lining up to back it. However, as it prepared to go public in 2019, analysts assigned it a much lower valuation. When it eventually went public in 2021, its market valuation plummeted to less than $50 million.

WeWork founder, Adam Neumann, stepped down from the company in 2019 following its initial failure to go public and criticism of the firm’s internal culture under his leadership.

The approval of the bankruptcy deal comes days after Neumann admitted that his fresh effort to purchase the company would not proceed. He had reportedly offered $500 million for the company, which had been valued at nearly $50 billion in a private investment round in 2019.