Economy

WeWork Announces $500m Investment in Asia

Published

9 years ago

07/08/2017

By Dipo Olowookere

WeWork has announced a $500 million investment in a new entity focused on fuelling its growth and expansion in Southeast Asia and Korea.

This investment underlines the potential for WeWork in Asia and follows on the heels of WeWork’s other recent investment news from the region: a $500 million investment with SoftBank and Hony Capital dedicated to WeWork’s expansion across China, and a joint venture with SoftBank to bring WeWork’s transformational community to Japan.

WeWork, in a statement, also disclosed that it would acquire Singapore-based coworking company Spacemob, including its founder and CEO, Turochas ‘T’ Fuad, and his team. Fuad will become Managing Director of Southeast Asia for WeWork and will oversee the company’s expansion in the region.

Fuad founded Spacemob in early 2016 and quickly grew the company to multiple locations in Singapore, with spaces in Indonesia and Vietnam scheduled to open soon. Prior to founding Spacemob in early 2016, Fuad founded and sold two startups: WUF Networks and Travelmob. Fuad also held senior roles in Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific for Yahoo! and Skype, respectively.

Matt Shampine, currently Head of Marketing and Revenue for Asia, has been appointed General Manager of Korea for WeWork. Shampine originally joined WeWork in 2010 as a member and his digital agency went on to be a founding member of WeWork Labs. In 2013, he joined WeWork as an employee, initially as Director of Strategic Partnerships. More recently, Shampine has played a key role in WeWork’s entry and subsequent expansion in Asia.

Miguel McKelvey, Co-Founder and Chief Culture Officer of WeWork, said: “Today’s announcement reaffirms WeWork’s commitment to scaling our business across Asia. We are amazed and humbled by the response to WeWork so far and look forward to continuing to build our vibrant and diverse community in the rapidly evolving region.

“To be part of WeWork is to be connected to one of the most meaningful business networks in the world and we are excited to invite new members from some of the most creative and innovative cities on the globe.

“I speak for the entire WeWork team and our 130,000 members when I say I am incredibly excited to have T and the team from Spacemob join us in our mission to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living.”

Christian Lee, Managing Director of WeWork Asia, said: “I’m delighted to welcome T and Matt to the Asia management team. Both are seasoned entrepreneurs with deep roots in Southeast Asia and they will be invaluable as we scale the business across the region. Matt’s WeWork experience — as both a member and an employee — will be critical as we expand our offerings in Korea. With Spacemob, T and his team will accelerate our efforts to establish WeWork in key Southeast Asia markets. The Spacemob business that T has built is a testament to him and his team’s capabilities.”

Turochas “T” Fuad, Managing Director of Southeast Asia for WeWork said: “WeWork’s purpose-driven approach to providing businesses of any size with the space, community, and services they need to thrive is without equal. I could not be more proud to lead WeWork’s expansion in Southeast Asia. The region represents close to nine percent of the world’s population, it is an exciting market full of budding entrepreneurs, enterprises and creators, and that is a massive opportunity for WeWork. I know that we will have a meaningful impact on these communities. My team and I cannot wait to get started on what promises to be an incredible journey.”

Matt Shampine, General Manager of Korea for WeWork said: “It has been exciting to launch WeWork in Asia and to see the WeWork vision and community take shape here. To see the way new members have grasped WeWork’s core values has been inspiring, educational and fun. The region has so much potential, I have no doubt that current and future WeWork members in Asia — and especially in Korea — will thrive and contribute in a positive and meaningful way to WeWork’s global community. It’s going to be exciting to be part of it and I’m ready for the challenge.”

Economy

CSCS, Afriland Properties, MRS Oil Weaken NASD Exchange by 1.12%

Published

2 hours ago

09/04/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three stocks further weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.12 per cent on Wednesday, April 8, with the Unlisted Security Index (NSI) down by 44.43 points to 3,930.91 points from the previous day’s 3,975.34 points, and the market capitalisation went down by N26.59 to N2.351 trillion from N2.378 trillion.

MRS Oil lost N11.00 during the session to close at N161.00 per share compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N172.00 per share, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc dipped by N3.74 to N67.95 per unit from N71.69 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc fell by N1.10 to sell at N15.95 per share versus N17.05 per share.

There were two gainers at the midweek trading session, led by IPWA Plc, which appreciated by 55 Kobo to N6.61 per unit from N6.06 per unit, and First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc improved its value by 4 Kobo to N2.32 per share from N2.28 per share.

Yesterday, the volume of securities rose by 620.4 per cent to 5.7 million units from 797,264 units, the value of securities increased by 25.1 per cent to N32.7 million from N26.1 million, and the number of deals climbed by 12.1 per cent to 37 deals from the preceding session’s 33 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, trailed by CSCS Plc with 57.2 million units exchanged for N3.9 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.5 million units traded for N1.8 billion.

GNI Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units worth N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units transacted for N1.2 billion.

Economy

Naira Grows 1.07% to N1,371/$1 at Official Market as FX Pressure Eases

Published

2 hours ago

09/04/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Foreign Exchange (FX) demand pressure eased on the Naira on Wednesday, April 8, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) after gaining N14.84 or 1.07 per cent against the greenback to quote at N1,371.82/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,386.66/$1.

Also, the local currency appreciated against the Euro in the same market window at midweek by N1.54 to close at N1,604.07/€1 versus Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,605.61/€1, but lost N6.26 against the Pound Sterling to trade at N1,844.83/£1 versus N1,838.57/£1.

In the parallel market, the exchange rate of the Naira to the US Dollar remained unchanged yesterday at N1,410/$1, according to data sourced by Business Post.

There were indicators that the official FX market experienced a liquidity surge, which eased worries around the dominant US Dollar on Wednesday, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed interbank deals rose to 220 from 71 reported the previous day.

The domestic currency has been in strong demand from foreign portfolio investors seeking to purchase OMO bills and other fixed-income instruments.

Forecasts also show that the local currency will remain relatively stable during the second quarter of the year, trading within the N1,340 to N1,430 per Dollar band on improved FX liquidity, stronger oil earnings, and rising external reserves, which have climbed above 50 billion dollars.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it fell after an initial ceasefire-fueled rally, with markets retracing Wednesday’s “ceasefire euphoria” as cracks emerge in the US-Iran truce while the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.

Global risk assets face renewed pressure as geopolitical uncertainty combines with what analysts call “uncoordinated tightening” by major central banks, reinforcing higher-for-longer interest-rate expectations.

The price of Cardano (ADA) fell by 4.7 per cent to $0.2500, Ripple (XRP) slumped 3.7 per cent to $1.33, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 3.5 per cent to $0.0915, Binance Coin (BNB) slipped 2.6 per cent to $600.02, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 2.5 per cent to $2,183.82, Solana (SOL) dipped 2.5 per cent to $82.24, and Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 1.1 per cent to $70,995.20.

However, TRON (TRX) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to $0.3173, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.

Economy

Customs Street Surges 0.28% Despite Persistent Weak Sentiment

Published

3 hours ago

09/04/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rallied by 0.28 per cent on Wednesday despite weak investor sentiment, as the bourse ended with 18 price gainers and 38 price losers, implying a negative market breadth index.

The growth recorded yesterday by Customs Street was influenced by the 2.11 per cent rise posted by the energy index, and the 1.79 per cent jump achieved by the banking sector.

The other sectors experienced profit-taking, with the consumer goods losing 1.07 per cent, the insurance counter down by 0.36 per cent, and the industrial goods space down by 0.19 per cent.

Universal Insurance chalked up 10.00 per cent to sell for N1.21, Omatek improved by 9.78 per cent to N2.47, VFD Group expanded by 9.71 per cent to N11.30, CWG appreciated by 9.64 per cent to N21.05, and Livestock Feeds gained 9.56 per cent to close at N7.45.

On the flip side, UPDC REIT lost 10.00 per cent to settle at N6.75, Fortis Global Insurance shed 9.92 per cent to quote at N1.18, Deap Capital depreciated by 9.85 per cent to N5.40, Chams went down by 9.47 per cent to N3.06, and Japaul declined by 8.82 per cent to N3.10.

Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 562.43 points to 202,585.53 points from 202,023.10 points, and the market capitalisation advanced by N389 billion to N130.404 trillion from N130.015 trillion.

During the session, 1.0 billion stocks worth N40.6 billion exchanged hands in 52,723 deals compared with the 1.1 billion stocks valued at N40.3 billion executed in 78,006 deals a day earlier, indicating an uptick in the trading value by 0.74 per cent, and a shortfall in the trading volume and number of deals by 9.09 per cent and 32.41 per cent apiece.

The activity chart was led by Access Holdings, which sold 233.0 million units valued at N6.1 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 113.1 million units worth N2.2 billion, Wema Bank recorded a turnover of 103.3 million units valued at N2.7 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 60.6 million units for N6.5 billion, and Chams traded 47.5 million units worth N154.6 million.