IWG WeWork appoints Joele Frank

WeWork has hired PR agency Joele Frank to replace former agency Edelman as it struggles to recover from problems that brought it close to collapsing. Edelman had been hired by former CEO Adam Neumann, who left the job after the co-working company reported a $1.25bn loss and abandoned plans for an IPO. Joele Frank will work with a board committee created by WeWork to study financing, including SoftBank’s $5bn rescue package which gave the Japanese company control of WeWork.

NEW YORK — Beleaguered office-sharing company WeWork has switched up its PR agency relationships as it tries to recover from huge financial losses that have brought it to the brink of collapse.



Edelman, which was hired earlier this year to support WeWork founder and then-CEO Adam Neumann, confirmed that the agency is no longer working with the company. The controversial Neumann left the post in September after the company reported a $1.25bn third quarter loss tied to its rapid expansion ahead of its failed IPO.



Meanwhile, The We Company, which owns WeWork, has hired Joele Frank to work with the special board committee it created in October to study financing, including the $5bn rescue package that gave Japanese tech giant SoftBank control of the company.



WeWork has also brought in Sard Verbinnen, which represents SoftBank. The company has an existing relationship in place with Gladstone Place Partners, which represented We on the IPO, according to the Financial Times.



Neither Joele Frank, Sard Verbinnen nor WeWork returned requests for comment.



The changes in WeWork’s PR agency partners comes on the heels of in-house shifts as well. In September, CCO Jennifer Skyler left the company after four years to join American Express.



Skyler, who was WeWork’s first communications hire, was part of an expansion of the company’s in-house and agency teams that occurred in conjunction with the growth of the larger company. Over the last three or so years, WeWork made numerous corporate comms hires as it expanded globally.