(Reuters) -WeWork on Monday named interim Chief Executive David Tolley as its CEO, tasking the former Blackstone executive with turning around the flexible workspace provider’s ailing business.
WeWork’s shares were up 2% at $2.41 in premarket trading.
Tolley, who was CFO of satellite operator Intelsat from 2019 to 2022, has been a WeWork board member since February 2023 and was interim CEO since May 2023.
WeWork, backed by SoftBank, has been in turmoil ever since its plans to go public in 2019 imploded as investors worried over its hefty losses and began to doubt its business model of taking long-term leases and renting them for the short term.
The company’s shares have lost nearly all their value since a market debut through a blank-check merger in October 2021 at a much-reduced valuation.
In May, CEO Sandeep Mathrani resigned, followed by the exit of CFO Andre Fernandez in the same month.
WeWork raised “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operations in August and went ahead with a one-for-forty reverse stock split to regain compliance with listing requirements.
(Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Shounak Dasgupta)
