The coworking giant is at it again WeWork?s empire is expanding?again. The well-funded multinational coworking company that?s also been opening gyms, schools, and coliving experiments just announced it has acquired Meetup, a 15-year-old social media network aimed at connecting people with similar interests (French! Data visualization! Pickup soccer!) in real life.
The deal makes sense. Meetup, which comprises a website and app, wants people to, well, meet up, and in a physical space. WeWork, with locations in over 23 U.S. cities and 21 countries, has those spaces.
Put another way, the simple graphic embedded below was created based on Meetup founder Scott Heiferman?s idea that his company stands at the intersection of cities and interests. WeWork?s some 10 million square feet of office space across many cities will come in handy.
To mark https://t.co/gJKYWk6Onh?s sale to WeWork (congrats @heif), here?s the best visual description of a company that I?ve ever seen ?> https://t.co/AVczUlTwb5? Jason Fried (@jasonfried) November 28, 2017

For WeWork, the acquisition has both big-picture and nitty-gritty appeal. On one hand, the company now talks of using ?technology to create new and innovative ways of building community.? This means opening up WeWork?s real estate to new people (Meetup has hundreds of thousands of organizers and millions of members) and uses beyond the realm of work. The more practical side is that by hosting these meetups?which are pretty much ...