WeWork replaces its operations director to focus on growth abroad

WeWork is fighting with some of its top executives to strengthen its international presence, which is a sizeable test for the office rental business, which justifies its recent valuation of $ 45 billion.

Eugen Miropolski, formerly head of WeWork's operations throughout Europe and Asia, with the exception of Japan, has been named Chief Operating Officer of the company, the company said. recoding, and will remain based in London – a move that, according to the company, is out of the will to advance new foreign markets.

Jen Berrent, his current COO, now badumes the role of co-chair and will continue to serve as WeWork's principal legal advisor and report directly to Adam Neumann, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer. COO's position in particular was a satisfactory business at WeWork: Berrent had held this position for just under two years, succeeding Artie Minson, who was also COO for about two years before becoming head of the company. society. Financial Officer and Sole President. Berrent and Minson were both based in the United States.

So, yes, the people who advise Neumann stay the same. But the move to promote Miropolski, which at one point oversaw Airbnb's growth in Europe, shows that WeWork needs to prioritize its international footprint – especially as it joins forces with SoftBank, the European-based conglomerate. Japan 's society has a very questioning badessment to try to help it become a global juggernaut.

"No one is better equipped to deliver on our vision of our next growth phase," said Berrent.

Miropolski, who is only 31, said his main goal as a COO would be to expand WeWork's offering "whether in Jakarta or Johannesburg".

Johannesburg, for example, is expected to be the first WeWork office in all of Africa. In recent years, the New York company has tried to significantly increase its international presence. It settled in nine new countries in 2018, in addition to the 18 where it was already installed. WeWork said at the end of the last fiscal year that 58% of its offices were located outside of the United States, while only 41% of them had one year ago.

WeWork has offices overseas since 2014 – the company's executives admit that it could have been excessive given that the company was barely dominant in the US – but the international expansion is WeWork's best opportunity to maintain the fast growth rate expected by investors like SoftBank to see. He has become, for example, the largest private tenant in London.

Other markets are more underdeveloped: China, overseen by Miropolski, is in particular a huge test for WeWork as the fastest growing region. The company now has 74 sites in China in eight cities and SoftBank has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in WeWork China, a company specific to China. But the company has recently encountered difficulties in markets like Hong Kong.

All of this global expansion ended up costing the company $ 2.5 billion last year. The "Grow-now" approach means WeWork is suffering mbadive global losses – $ 2 billion last year, double what it had lost the year before. But the company's management said it was focusing on expanding into new markets rather than on the path to profitability that it could seek to prepare for an introduction into the future. stock Exchange.