WeWork Rebrands: How Will The New Corporate Structure Work?

Office rental startup WeWork has rebranded itself as The We Company as it moves to restructure the company and secure new capital from the SoftBank Group.

In an announcement Tuesday, WeWork said that SoftBank intends to invest $2 billion into the company. This takes total investment from SoftBank to $10 billion including the $4 billion that was previously announced by WeWork.

SoftBank’s investment is at a post-money valuation of $47 billion with $1 billion of the investment at a $20 billion pre-money valuation, CNBC reported.

The rebranding, at first glance, is a marketing maneuver as the company continues to focus on its same service offering. WeWork offers individual and enterprise office space rentals with a membership structure as well as residential living communities under the WeLive brand and early education schools under WeGrow.

The new rebranding will place these three brands under one corporate umbrella with the new The We Company moniker, operating as separate business units.

CEO Adam Neumann announced the new corporate structure at the WeWork Global Summit. The move is part of Neumann’s plans to steer the company beyond commercial real estate into all aspects of people lives, in both the physical and digital worlds, he told Fast Company.

In 2019, the company also plans to hire 1,000 engineers, in addition to making more acquisitions, according to the news outlet.

Neumann also hinted to Fast Company that more is on the horizon for the company with services such as WeBank, WeSleep, and WeSail.