Today is the second class in our new four class set. We will start class with a casual conversation. Our reading this week is about Gangnam Lightwalk. Our listening is about WeWork. Please watch once. We will finish class with our grammar review. Writing the sentences on a separate piece of paper by hand is a wonderful way to practice. For today’s mini grammar we will practice “question” sentences.

Click HERE for the reading

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

WeWork has filed for bankruptcy. This company lets you sublease office space for a month or a day or even an hour. When you need an office, they're there to give it to you. But apparently, many people no longer want it. NPR's Bobby Allyn joins us now. Bobby, good morning.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: So how did it come to be that WeWork's business model no longer works?

ALLYN: Yeah. Well, to understand that, we have to go back in time to the height of WeWork back in 2019. The company was worth $47 billion back then. And yeah, what the company basically did was, as you mentioned, spruce up office spaces and made them feel like hip cafes with free kombucha and beer on tap and let people work there very short term. Back then, the company's CEO was this guy Adam Neumann, who was this erratic, lanky, flamboyant entrepreneur who liked to say that WeWork's goal was to elevate the world's consciousness. Whatever that meant...

INSKEEP: OK.

ALLYN: ...It got deep-pocketed investors to pour lots and lots of money in. WeWork tried to go public that year in 2019, but it was a spectacular failure.

INSKEEP: OK, wait a minute. Erratic and flamboyant entrepreneur. What could possibly have gone wrong?

ALLYN: Yeah, yeah. Well, it became clear that when investors actually looked at the company, it had no idea how it would ever turn a profit. Big surprise, right? It rented long-term leases in the short term to get really competitive deals - right? - great deals for the people who were renting. But it had no idea how it was going to fill space into the future. Eventually, Neumann, this colorful character, was ousted, and the company nearly collapsed. But in recent years, it brought in new leadership. It scaled back its size. It did manage to finally go public, but it wasn't enough to turn the company around. It kept running out of money. It tried renegotiating its office spaces with landlords. Nothing worked. So now WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. And, Steve, I just checked, and the company's stock is down 99.2% from the start of the year. It's now worth $44 million.

INSKEEP: Wow.

ALLYN: So a far cry from 50 billion.

INSKEEP: Wow, wow. OK, so you've explained some of the problems with the business model. But does this also reflect changes in society?

ALLYN: Yes. So it did - the company did scale back quite a bit, but it has 700 locations in 30 countries, right? But is this just a WeWork problem or a larger problem? You know, there's an office market crisis right now. It's a really terrible time to be a landlord, since workers aren't going into the office as much since the pandemic. You know, obviously, the rise of remote work has really hurt office subleasing companies like WeWork. But consider this. I mean, WeWork's troubles are really going to ripple into many office markets. In New York City, for example, WeWork is the biggest corporate tenant. And in its bankruptcy filing, WeWork says it owes $100 million in unpaid rent. So that's a lot of rent to owe to your landlord (laughter).

INSKEEP: Wow, wow. So they had so much real estate, you're saying, this will even affect real estate prices for other people with offices to rent.

ALLYN: Yeah, absolutely.

INSKEEP: What does it mean for specific WeWork locations? There must still be some people going into these offices.

ALLYN: Yeah. So the bankruptcy process will help WeWork get out of office leases that are performing really badly, and it will help the company renegotiate with landlords on leases that it wants to keep. But, you know, you can expect many locations shutting down, as many as 100 locations the company says could close.

INSKEEP: What does the company say about its next steps?

ALLYN: Yeah, WeWork is emphasizing that bankruptcy doesn't mean it's shutting its doors for good. Most of the company's spaces will still be operational, but, you know, there will just be a lot of tough negotiating happening behind closed doors. Like I mentioned, many dozens of locations are expected to close, but the company itself - it's not disappearing anytime soon, Steve.

INSKEEP: NPR's Bobby Allyn, thanks so much.

ALLYN: Thank you.