The WeWork Debacle - Good, Bad or Inconsequential?

Coworking giant WeWork has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. How concerned do we really need to be?

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Though WeWork is aggressively expanding across the world, its operations in India are a minuscule, single-digit fragment of the bigger picture. It continues to position itself as the wave of the future – the last word in community-based offices – and investing in this is WeWork’s primary focus right now.

While its India valuation and future expansion plans may not be deeply impacted by the recently jinxed listing plans, this is not even a statement on the potential of coworking in India. Still a young segment in this country, coworking has massive demand and witnessed a 23% growth in the second quarter of 2019 over the preceding quarter across the top seven cities.

Embassy Group acquired the franchisee rights of WeWork in India with 80% stake in it, and the coworking vertical is not likely to face any funding challenges. Embassy’s recent successful REIT listing has given it an edge and will work in its favour.