What Is Miguel McKelvey’s Net Worth?
Miguel McKelvey is an American businessman and co-founder of WeWork who has a net worth of $500 million. Miguel McKelvey grew up in Eugene, Oregon. “I grew up in a group of single mothers who were all supportive of each other,” Miguel said.
His mother, Lucia McKelvey, was a co-founder of What’s Happening, the publication that would eventually become Eugene Weekly.
In 1999, Miguel obtained a degree in architecture from the University of Oregon. “Architecture helped me learn and develop my own creative process,” McKelvey said in a later interview.
Following his college graduation, McKelvey relocated to Tokyo. There, Miguel created “English Baby,” a website for learning conversational English and slang.
He left the company to move to New York to pursue his first true passion — architecture.
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In December 2007, Miguel started Green Desk, with Adam Neumann. Green Desk is a month-to-month office rental service but is different from WeWork.
Also in 2007, McKelvey founded Generation Design Studio.
WeWork
In 2010, McKelvey co-founded WeWork with his friend Adam Neumann.
Miguel met Adam at a party in the late 2000s. Neumann was raised on a kibbutz (farming community).
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Their first co-working space was in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo. It served as an office space for freelancers, new businesses, and other organizations.
WeWork focused on creating physical environments that connected with business owners and workers while cultivating a community of members who were extremely committed.
Neumann said WeWork existed to “elevate the world’s consciousness.” Adam has also called WeWork – “the world’s first physical social network.”
WeWork’s second location was in a space across from the Empire State Building. The property was owned by three Persian brothers.
By 2014, WeWork had 23 spaces in eight cities.
In March 2016, the company received $430 million from Chinese investors.
In November 2016, WeWork opened its 100th location in Berlin, Germany.
In August 2017, WeWork received a $4.4 billion infusion from SoftBank.
Also in August 2017, WeWork was valued at $20 billion.
By the end of 2017, the company had 20,000 companies as customers and around 3,000 employees.
In May 2018, Bjarke Ingels joined WeWork as Chief Architect to “offer his insights and ideas.”
In September 2018, the company rented 5.3 million sq. ft in Manhattan–WeWork became Manhattan’s biggest holder of real estate, surpassing the previous record-holder, JPMorgan Chase. In the same year, WeWork’s losses were estimated at $2 billion.
In January 2019, SoftBank invested $2 billion in funding. WeWork had a $47 billion valuation.
In June 2019, the company that Miguel co-founded had 485 locations in over 100 cities in 28 countries.
In September 2019, WeWork decided to delay its IPO after reports emerged of WeWork’s financial troubles. The company’s valuation fell from $47 billion to $10 billion.
The board of WeWork forced Adam to step down as CEO. He received a reported $1.7 billion from the stakeholder Softbank.
After Softbank took control of WeWork, Miguel remained in the company for another nine months.
In June 2020, McKelvey officially left WeWork.
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“I’ve made one of the most difficult decisions of my life,” Miguel said at the time. He added: “I’ll be leaving WeWork.”
WeWork ultimately went public in October 2021.
What is Miguel McKelvey doing now?
In November 2021, McKelvey became an advisor at Known, a financial services growth platform.
In March 2022, Miguel became a partner of NAYAH.
In 2023, Miguel became the owner of the apparel maker American Giant.
WeCrashed
In March 2022, WeCrashed premiered on Apple TV+. It is a TV series that follows the story of the rise and fall of WeWork, and is based on the podcast “WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork.”
In the series, Miguel is portrayed by American actor Kyle Marvin, while Neumann is portrayed by Jared Leto.
Anne Hathaway plays the role of Adam’s wife, Rebekah Neumann, a cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow. In 2018, Rebekah started WeGrow, an education program where children could elevate their consciousness.
Wife
Miguel McKelvey was married to Hiyam McKelvey (née Khalifa), a retired funding banker who spent 11 years at Lehman Brothers.
In 2013, Hiyam co-founded the makeup company, Pucker.
“Pucker was a way to make the transformative feeling more accessible,” Hiyam told Amny.
Miguel and Hiyam divorced in 2017.
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Net Worth 2024
So, how much is Miguel McKelvey worth?
McKelvey earned most of his wealth from co-founding WeWork.
He became a billionaire in 2016. Miguel said in an interview, “for me, success has always been about finding meaning and personal fulfillment.”
Outside of WeWork, Miguel has also founded the companies Generation Design Studio, Versation, and Green Desk.
In January 2019, when WeWork had a valuation of $47 billion, McKelvey’s net worth was estimated at $2.9 billion. At the time, Miguel had a 5% stake in WeWork.
However, in March 2022, WeWork had a valuation of $2.9 billion.
In early 2020, McKelvey put his three-floor NYC townhouse up for sale at $21m. It is a 6,000-square-foot modernist house.
Therefore, Miguel McKelvey has an estimated net worth of $500 million.
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I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.