Apr 12, 2018 - World
WeWork acquires Chinese rival Naked Hub
Kia Kokalitcheva
WeWork Weihai Lu commons in Shanghai, China. Photo: WeWork
WeWork is buying Naked Hub, a Chinese office co-working company and part of Naked Group, CEO Adam Neumann said in a blog post. Bloomberg pegs the acquisition price at $400 million, mostly in stock.
Why it matters: The purchase follows two WeWork trends — international growth, especially in Asia, and an acquisition spree. WeWork first opened offices in China in 2016, and last year set up a Chinese entity, bankrolled by SoftBank and Hony Capital, to expand its presence in the country.
Local race: This is only the second co-working company WeWork has purchased (the first was Spacemob in Singapore), but there's no doubt the competition in Asia is heating up. Other local competitors include unicorn Ucommune, which has been on its own acquisition spree.