WeWork shares were suspended in New York yesterday as the office firm once valued at £38billion teetered on the brink of collapse.
Trading in the stock was halted on Wall Street ahead of a reported bankruptcy filing.
A notice on the New York Stock Exchange website said there was news ‘pending’ about WeWork, which has suffered a 98 per cent fall in its share price this year.
The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, reported that WeWork was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.
The company raised doubts in August over its ability to continue operating, with £2.3billion of long-term debt and £10.7billion in long-term leases.
On the brink: Trading in the WeWork stock was halted on Wall Street ahead of a reported bankruptcy filing
In September it began to renegotiate nearly all its leases in a bid to reduce costs.
The embattled company’s model of securing long leases for buildings and renting out space on a short-term basis was badly hit by the shift to home working.
WeWork has faced multiple scandals since it was founded in 2010. Its attempted IPO in 2019 failed and it was bailed out by Japan’s Softbank.
WeWork went public in 2021 with a much-reduced valuation of $9billion.
