By the end of 2017, nearly 1.2 million people worldwide will have worked in a co-working space. While 60% of all co-working spaces are not profitable, co-working has definitely been a huge trend in the last 10 years.
WeWork hasn’t invented co-working, however, with more than 130 locations and 100,000 members, it’s definitely leading this market. Now, WeWork is trying to extend its appeal beyond startups and freelancers into the lucrative market for corporate clients, as it recently announced that IBM has agreed to sign a membership deal for all desks in WeWork’s 88 University Place. It's the first reported case of a single corporation taking an entire WeWork space. But WeWork is not alone in the market. In fact, 14,000 co-working spaces will be in operation worldwide by the end of the year. It seems that what started as a niche product is now changing the way offices are designed and consumed, as offices become a service. In recent years, a few other highly innovative companies were established with a mission to shape the future of our working environments.