WeWork Inc.
Leadership History
5 leaders · 2010 to present
John Santora is the CEO of WeWork, in the role since 2024. The first chief executive was Adam Neumann, from 2010.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Santora | Chief Executive Officer | 2024 | Present | 2 |
| David Tolley | CEO | 2023 | 2024 | 1 |
| Sandeep Mathrani | CEO | 2020 | 2023 | 3 |
| Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham | Co-CEOs | 2019 | 2020 | 1 |
| Adam Neumann | Co-founder and CEO | 2010 | 2019 | 9 |
WeWork reported $3.245 billion in FY2022 revenue, filed for Chapter 11 in November 2023, and emerged as a private company in June 2024. Cupar Grimmond, an affiliate of Yardi Systems, holds about 60% of the company, SoftBank affiliates about 20%, and other investors about 20%. John Santora is CEO. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York.
WeWork earns membership fees from customers who use its buildings: private offices, dedicated and hot desks, meeting rooms, and day or hourly access. Before bankruptcy it mostly signed long-term leases with landlords and resold the space on shorter terms, which left it with fixed rent obligations against flexible revenue. In Chapter 11 it cancelled or renegotiated hundreds of leases. It still signs leases, such as the 2025 deal at 245 Fifth Avenue and the 2026 deal at 511 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and it also sells workspace products such as All Access, On Demand, and the WeWork Go pod launched in April 2026.
Chief Executive Officer
2024 – Present
2 years (current)
Santora was appointed post-bankruptcy to manage the newly restructured, leaner portfolio of co-working spaces.
He leads the effort to rebuild enterprise trust and achieve actual profitability now that the company is unburdened by its legacy debt.
CEO
2023 – 2024
1 year
Tolley officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2023 to force landlords to renegotiate or reject unprofitable leases.
He successfully navigated the bankruptcy process, wiping out $4 billion in pre-petition debt and handing ownership to the company's creditors.
CEO
2020 – 2023
3 years
Mathrani executed a brutal restructuring, taking the company public via a SPAC in 2021 and attempting to renegotiate billions in bloated long-term lease liabilities.
Despite cutting massive amounts of operational overhead, he could not overcome the structural impairment caused by the shift to remote work before resigning in 2023.
Co-CEOs
2019 – 2020
1 year
Appointed as co-CEOs immediately following Neumann's ouster to stabilize the collapsing company and secure emergency bailout funding from SoftBank.
They initiated the massive sell-off of Neumann's non-core acquisitions (like Wavegarden and Meetup) and halted the aggressive signing of new leases.
Co-founder and CEO
2010 – 2019
9 years
Neumann drove unprecedented, debt-fueled global expansion, raising billions from SoftBank at a peak private valuation of $47 billion.
He built the most famous co-working brand in the world but was ousted in 2019 after the S-1 filing revealed massive financial losses and erratic corporate governance, leading to a canceled IPO.
WeWork's main risks are uneven office demand in a hybrid-work market, landlord caution after the lease rejections in its bankruptcy, competition from IWG and Industrious and from landlords running their own flex space, and the limited financial disclosure it now makes as a private company.
John Santora is the Chief Executive Officer of WeWork, appointed in June 2024 upon the company's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
John Santora spent 47 years at global commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, serving in top executive roles including Global Chief Operating Officer, President of the Tri-State Region, and member of the Board.
Adam Neumann served as CEO for nine years, from founding the company in 2010 until his forced resignation in September 2019 amidst governance scandals and the failed IPO.
Following Neumann's exit in September 2019, WeWork executives Artie Minson (former CFO) and Sebastian Gunningham (former Vice Chairman) served as interim co-CEOs to stabilize operations.
Sandeep Mathrani, former CEO of GGP and seasoned real estate executive, took over in February 2020; he cut over $1 billion in overhead, guided WeWork through COVID-19, and took the company public via SPAC in 2021.
David Tolley, a veteran restructuring executive and former CFO of WorldCom, served as CEO from May 2023 through the bankruptcy proceedings until stepping down in June 2024.
Yes, in early 2024, Adam Neumann submitted an unsolicited buyout proposal of over $500 million backed by hedge fund Third Point; however, WeWork's creditors and restructuring advisors rejected the offer.
The flamboyant, founder-dominated culture of the early years was replaced by seasoned institutional real estate leadership and a traditional board dominated by commercial software and credit professionals.
Compare executive leadership tenures and strategic transitions
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