Sandeep Mathrani

Sandeep Mathrani (born 1962) is a real-estate executive and the current chief executive of WeWork following the ouster of its former CEO, Adam Neumann. Prior to taking over WeWork, he was the former CEO of GGP Inc.. He was also the CEO of Brookfield Property Partners.

Mathrani was born and raised in India. He emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of 16 alone. In 1983, he graduated from college at the Stevens Institute of Technology, obtaining his bachelor's degree in engineering and management science. In 1986, he obtained his master's degree in engineering from Stevens. According to Mathrani, he first got into real estate in 1986 by selling a used Nissan Sentra and using the proceeds to buy and flip an apartment building in Washington, DC for a $20,000 profit. In actual fact, he generated the funds in part by selling the Nissan and also by borrowing money using his Visa card and securing a $52,000 loan from the US Federal Housing Administration (FHA). He was mentored by two real estate giants, Bruce Ratner and Steven Roth (of the Vornado real estate giant).

Mathrani served as the CEO of GGP Inc. since 2011 (just as the company was emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy). He was hired away from his previous job as an executive with Vornado, the company owned by his mentor. He served as CEO until 2018 as it was purchased by Brookfield Property. When the company was bought out, Mathrani netted roughly $189 million through the cash-and-stock takeover, which represented a combination of his golden parachute as CEO as well as the value of his shares. After the acquisition, Mathrani joined Brookfield as the chief executive of its retail property management arm. In February 2020, Mathrani was brought on board as the new CEO of the struggling tech company WeWork, following the ouster of its CEO Adam Neumann and the collapse of its IPO.