In December 2020, Montreal-based flexible workspace startup Breather underwent a major restructuring, laying off 90 employees, which represented 75% of its then 120-person workforce. The company reduced its staff to just 30 people. This drastic downsizing was part of a strategic pivot away from being a physical workspace operator, as the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted its business model. Breather abandoned hundreds of leases in the U.S. and U.K., filing for insolvency processes for those subsidiaries, and planned to exit its remaining 79 Canadian leases. CEO Bryan Murphy announced the company would shift to a pure technology play, aiming to become an online marketplace for third-party flexible office space, akin to Airbnb, rather than continuing as a capital-intensive operator like WeWork.
