- WeWork’s chief technology officer is leaving the company, executives said on Friday in emails obtained by Business Insider.
- Shiva Rajaraman joined the company in August 2017 after a short stint at Apple. He previously worked at Spotify and Google.
- Co-CEO Sebastian Gunningham will take over central technology, while the new chief product and experience officer will manage technology products.
- WeWork’s IT needs a major upgrade that could cost tens of millions of dollars, insiders told Business Insider earlier this fall.
- For more WeWork stories, click here.
WeWork’s chief technology officer is stepping down, according to Friday emails obtained by Business Insider.
Shiva Rajaraman joined the company in August 2017 with a lengthy tech resume. Before WeWork, he spent a short stint at Apple. He previously was a vice president of product at Spotify and spent eight years at Google before that.
A representative for WeWork declined to comment.
Co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham informed the full company about his departure in a Friday email.
“During his time at WeWork, Shiva built a world-class Technology team and helped deliver digital products and services that create an amazing experience for our members,” they wrote.
Gunningham will manage WeWork’s central technology systems. Ralf Wenzel, who joined the company as chief product and experience officer two weeks ago from SoftBank, will manage the technology products.
Rajaraman isn’t leaving immediately – the co-CEOs wrote that he’ll stay on for a three-month transition period.
In an email to the technology team, he said he’s moving on to “pursue new opportunities.”
“While these past few months haven’t been easy on anyone, I’m continuously in awe of how this team approached each challenge with a problem-solving mindset and the determination to build things right that can scale to our ambition,” Rajaraman wrote.
Last month, current and former WeWorkers said the company’s technology infrastructure is due for an expensive overhaul. At WeWork’s start, IT was led by a 16-year-old who dropped out of high school to join the company. WeWork later sued him, alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and other claims in a case the parties ultimately agreed to dismiss.
Redoing what some current and former WeWork IT staff said was outdated and substandard infrastructure could cost tens of millions of dollars — just as the company is looking to drastically cut costs.
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