WILIMINGTON & RALEIGH – WeWork (NYSE: WE) will buy Common Desk, which operates two North Carolina coworking and flexible workspace locations, one in Wilmington, and a soon-to-open location in Raleigh.

Common Desk is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and also manages locations in Houston and Austin.

WeWork manages facilities at One Glenwood in Raleigh and One City Center in Durham.  The company does not currently manage any facilities in Wilmington, according to its website, though it does manage three facilities in Charlotte.

WRAL TechWire was told recently that throughout the prior two years, the company focus was on streamlining the business in order to reach profitability.

WeWork, which has major presence in Triangle, is going public through a SPAC

 

The deal is expected to close at the end of March, according to a company statement shared with WRAL TechWire via email, which also notes that Common Desk will operate as “Common Desk, a WeWork Company.”

Future of work?

WeWork went public through a combination with a special purpose acquisition company, and became a publicly-traded company in October.  Since, the company’s stock price has fallen nearly 20% and is now trading at $7.86 per share, as of 12 PM on Tuesday.

WeWork released a report in April 2021 that summarized a study of how employees wished to work.  A survey conducted by a third party firm found that three-quarters of employees wished to be able to choose their work location, with one in four employees surveyed saying they’d be willing to give up health care coverage sponsored by their employer in order to have this choice.

WeWork, based on the study results, postulated that the future of work will be hybrid.  Raleigh and Durham appeared ranked in a December 2021 study of the top markets for conducting remote work, and employers like Google announced recent remote jobs in the region this month.  Though the future of work location is not certain, the labor market is one of the key factors in the state’s economy, as discussed recently by a panel of economists and bankers, convened by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

WeWork expands ‘On Demand’ program to Raleigh, Durham locations