WeWork’s Chief Technology Officer Shiva Rajaraman has decided to step aside from his designation. He will remain in office for three months transition period, reported by Business Insider.
Shiva Rajaraman joined WeWork in 2017 and lead the technology team, with various responsibilities including engineering, product management, design, and analytics.
Rajaraman’s Career
Before joining WeWork in 2017, Rajaraman also shortly worked with Apple and he recalled his experience there as “Not the perfect place for me.” Rajaraman has served Spotify as well where he was designated with the responsibility of VP Products.
He spent 8 years at Google and left as Director of Product Management in 2014.
In the past, Rajaraman has worked briefly with Twitter as Senior Product Manager to develop its commerce offerings in 2010.
New roles!
In order to formally inform the company about the news, the new co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham wrote an email about his departure. The email praised Rajaraman’s efforts,
“During his time at WeWork, Shiva built a world-class Technology team and helped deliver digital products and services that create an amazing experience for our members,”
It further states that Sebastian Gunningham will be supervising the central technology systems of WeWork.
Ralf Wenzel, who joined WeWork in the result of SoftBank’s acquisition, has been assigned the portfolio of Chief of Products and Experience Officer. Wenzel is also a Managing Partner and CEO of TechHub at Softbank.
Why is WeWork stumbling?
WeWork started in 2010, aiming to build shared coworking space to make a life, not just living. It has over 800 locations around the world now.
Recently, WeWork has been stumbling since its announcement of going into an IPO. The company’s IPO prospectus went wrong when the company lost $900 million in the first six months of 2019.
In the meantime, WeWork faced another blow due to the departure of co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann after it shelved plans for the IPO. WeWork was left with $7.5 billion from its previous value of $47 billion.
Amid this crisis of IPO, WeWork was looking for debt financing options as well. Consequently, the Japanese venture capitalist, SoftBank, decided to take charge of WeWork. They have acquired 70 percent or more control of WeWork at an $8 billion valuation.
Recently, WeWork terminated 2000+ employees, as a result of the overhaul by the new incumbent executive.
READ: WeWork’s Chairman Marcelo Claure terminates 13 people for abusing vendor policies
READ: WeWork to lay-off 2,000 employees; amid IPO crisis
READ: SoftBank to take charge of WeWork
READ: The WeWork fiasco of 2019, explained in 30 seconds ↗
Featured image: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty
