WeWork Brand Under More Stress as India IPO Struggles to Gain Traction

WeWork India’s IPO got off to a tepid start: the $36 million offering was only 4% subscribed on the first day of trading. That’s a sharp contrast to hype-level expectations and suggests that investor confidence in the WeWork model, at least in India, is still fragile. The offering is purely an offer for sale, meaning no fresh capital flows into the business. Instead, existing shareholders (Embassy Group and WeWork’s affiliate) are converting paper into liquidity.

The origins of WeWork India make this all the more interesting. The Indian unit was set up in 2017 as a joint venture between U.S.-based WeWork (initially minority) and Bengaluru real estate firm Embassy Group. Over time, it grew with more localized discipline, careful site selection, and a reduced royalty/management fee relationship to the global parent.   ...more

RSK: We Work still has a long way to go to gain the publics trust. When you raise money just to pay investors back and not putting it into the product, people see that as a bad sign.