WeWork sells social networking platform Meetup to AlleyCorp, others

Shared workspace provider WeWork has sold Meetup, a social media platform that encourages in-person meetings, to a group of investors led by New York-based investment firm AlleyCorp.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. 

However, business media organisation Fortune reported, citing people privy to the development, that the purchase price was a fraction of the $156 million that WeWork paid to acquire Meetup in 2017.

“This acquisition provides the long-term capital to ensure that Meetup focuses on what is most important: the organisers who make Meetup successful, our passionate members, and our dedicated employees," David Siegel, CEO of Meetup, said in a statement on Monday.

AlleyCorp founder and CEO Kevin Ryan will join Meetup as chairman of the board, while Siegel will stay on as its CEO, the statement added.

“Meetup's enterprise business solutions will also continue under Meetup Pro, a community building and engagement platform with more than 1,500 clients including Adobe, Google, Microsoft Azure, IBM, Twitter and Looker,” the statement added.

Founded in 2002 by Brendan McGovern, Scott Heiferman, Matt Meeker and Peter Kamali, Meetup hosts 49 million members across 193 countries on its platform.

The sale comes about a week after WeWork’s largest investor, Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank, announced a $41 billion asset sale to help it buy back $18 billion of its shares and trim debt.

“Our decision to divest Meetup aligns with WeWork's renewed focus on the company's core workspace business and marks a positive step forward for both WeWork and Meetup,” Rohit Dave, head of corporate development at WeWork, said.