WeWork India announces first-ever ESOP surrender

Coworking company WeWork India has announced its first-ever Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) surrender exercise, which will allow employees to surrender up to 25% of their vested stock options.

"In the last six years of building WeWork India, we have had many significant milestones and are thankful to our employees for believing in our vision," said Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India.

"As an organisation, we have always adopted an employee-first approach, and the ESOP surrender is yet another step towards wealth creation and empowering people,” he added.

WeWork entered India in 2017 and has since then signed 6.4 million sq ft of assets in 45 locations across, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad. The company recently leased a 54,000 sq ft office space from realty firm Eldeco, marking its entry into Delhi.

ESOPs are often used to attract or retain talent within a company and are usually vested over a few years. Usually, employees can sell their vested stocks in public markets at open market valuation, or the employer purchases them back at fair market value, determined by valuation in previous funding rounds.

Coworking companies or flex space operators have emerged as key players in India's commercial real estate market, accounting for 29% of the transacted space during Q1 2023, according to research by Knight Frank India.

According to the report, Bengaluru saw a substantial 50% of the total space transacted by flex space operators. While other services sector companies were the most active, the IT and BFSI sectors accounted for 16% each.

The IT sector's "back to office" transition is supported by sector leaders, and progress in terms of physical occupancy is seen across markets.