WeWork President, COO Heads For The Exit

There is more executive turnover at embattled coworking provider WeWork.

Anthony Yazbeck, the company's president and chief operating officer, is departing the company Friday after reaching an exit agreement last week, the company disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Yazbeck’s exit is “not due to any disagreement with respect to operations, strategy, or any accounting matters, financial statements, financial disclosures or related disclosure controls and procedures,” the filing says. The London-based executive will receive a roughly $1.5M exit package in exchange for leaving on such short notice, according to the filing.

The latest leadership change at WeWork comes days after David Tolley was named permanent CEO, a role he held for several months on an interim basis.

“After nearly eight years, Anthony Yazbeck will be leaving WeWork at the end of October,” Tolley said in a statement provided to Bisnow. “Since joining WeWork, Anthony has played a critical role in our global expansion, further strengthening our team, and driving our commitment to deliver best-in-class office space and services for our members.”

Yazbeck began at WeWork in 2016 as COO for Europe, China and the Pacific region before becoming the company’s international COO in 2020, per his LinkedIn profile. He became the company’s president in July 2021. His replacement hasn't been announced.

Following WeWork’s disclosure that Yazbeck would be stepping down, shares in the company rose by 2.6% in after-hours trading, according to Seeking Alpha.

The personnel shake-up is the latest in a string of turbulent months for the coworking company.

In May, then-CEO Sandeep Mathrani announced that he would be leaving the company, a move that came as a “total shock” to analysts and sent its stock price plummeting by almost 25%. That same month, former Chief Financial Officer Andre Fernandez resigned.

In his years as CEO after taking over following co-founder Adam Neumann's ouster, Mathrani had projected profitability just over the horizon. But problems have continued to mount for the business. It disclosed “substantial doubt” over its ability to stay in business in August, assembled a team of bankruptcy and restructuring experts shortly after and announced its intentions to renegotiate nearly all its leases. 

This month, the company skipped $95M in interest payments. It has a 30-day grace period before being declared in default.