WeWork has emerged from bankruptcy. What's next for the co-working office space provider?

NEW YORK (AP) — WeWork has officially emerged from bankruptcy. And all eyes are on whether its new leadership can guide the long-embattled provider of co-working office space to success. Once a Wall Street darling promising to revolutionize the world of work, WeWork took a stunning — but anticipated — fall last November when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Early overexpansion shackled WeWork with mounting debt and unsustainable real estate costs , and the New York-based company turned to restructuring in a bid to resurrect its business. WeWork emerged from the restructuring, which took effect Tuesday after being finalized in court last month, as a private company. That means its future financial disclosures will be limited, but the company says it’s shed more than $4 billion in debt, raised $400 million of additional equity capital, and cut future lease obligations in half — which it expects to bring some $12 billion in future savings.

WeWork’s real estate footprint also got smaller. The company exited 170 “unprofitable” locations — bringing its portfolio to about 600 wholly owned, franchisee and joint-venture locations in 37 countries. That’s down from around 770 locations across 39 countries reported ahead of November’s Chapter 11 filing.

“They rejected a great deal (of leases), so it’s obviously going to put WeWork in a much better position in terms of being lean enough ...

to exit bankruptcy and operate without so much crushing ove.