WeWork Is Getting Into The Social Networking Industry With Its Latest Acquisition
Adding to a slew of recent acquisitions and partnerships, WeWork plans to purchase social networking platform Meetup.
While the cost of the transaction has not yet been disclosed, Meetup CEO Scott Heiferman reportedly mentioned a $30M figure to employees, Crunchbase reports. WeWork's investment could help Meetup double the size of its firm; the $20B co-working giant confirmed the deal Tuesday morning, Mashable reports.
Los Angeles-based Meetup, which launched in 2002, has approximately 35 million members and has held more than 300,000 community meetings to date. The online platform aims to bring together people with similar interests and goals.
Meetup will continue to operate as its own company for the time being, but the two companies are expected to combine services. For example, Meetup groups could use WeWork's office space for social activities and meetings.
The deal comes on the heels of WeWork's investment in women’s only co-working business The Wing, as well as a partnership with Samsung to offer “care centers” that are similar to Apple’s Genius Bar. WeWork also purchased the 103-year-old Lord & Taylor flagship building from Hudson's Bay Cos. in a joint venture with private equity firm Rhône Capital in October.
The company recently received a $4.4B investment from Japanese fund SoftBank at a $20B valuation. As of summer 2017, it had more than 200 locations in 52 cities on four continents and about 150,000 members.
