July 10, 2025 • 8 mins
IWG, formerly known as Regus, is a global provider of flexible workspace solutions. They offer a wide range of office solutions including serviced offices, co-working spaces, and virtual offices under various brands like Regus, Spaces, and Signature by Regus. IWG merged its digital assets with The Instant Group in 2022, creating a leading global marketplace for flexible workspace.
Mark Dixon, the company's CEO, discusses the global commercial real estate market, specifically when it comes to flexible office space, as well as key trends related to hybrid work. Mark speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, the debate over remote work seems to be back,
at least I don't know. We kind of keep hearing
some things. It could be here for years to come.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
At least that's the subway was empty this morning for me.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I see it certainly well.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
And this is the middle of summer ninety week, going
to work when it's really hot in New York City.
I don't know if that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
He said a funny week.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Last week was a funny week. I thought last week
was until September?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Is funny until September Bloomberg Actually earlier this year, they
pointed out, though, that we would kind of continue to
have this debate. This was after President Trump added fuel
to the remote work fire when he called federal workers
back to the office full time. He might remember that,
and that followed similar moves by JP Morgan and Amazon,
And at the time it did renew some of the
tensions between those in favor of in person work and
(00:57):
the cohort that been working remotely. Or with a highat
hybrid arrangement since the pandemic. So curious to see what
our next guest has to say because he knows something.
You know, it's actually a lot about this.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Mark Dixon is CEO of International Workplace Group. It's the
Flexible office company that owns the Regis brand. Mark. What
are we all doing? Because Carol and I we never
stopped coming in.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I did a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You were from home a little bit. We were said,
we were told to you were told to go home.
I started in the fall of twenty twenty and came
right in, Yeah, you were. What is the reality from
your vantage point regarding work from home hybrid?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Look at this isn't basically the sort of debate about
work from home hybrid is sort of not missing the
whole point of what's going on. So what's going out
on is the workplace is changing into a platform where
companies who are the customers, they're the ones paying for
the workplace. Not all of them, but a lot of
(01:52):
them want to have much more flexibility, in particular in
these volatile times.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You know, AI, what's he going to do to blah
blah blah.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Hard to predict the future hard to go into permanent space.
So companies want flexibility. They want it off the ban sheet,
not on the balance sheet. They want op x, not capex,
and they want to be able to find workers anywhere
in the country. And that is what is happening. It's
a strong move by corporate America, and it's a worldwide
(02:25):
move where the real estate becomes less of something about
leases and much more about people using a platform flexibly.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So waat, so help me understand. So a lot more
hybrid going on, even though we've got some big, well
known companies saying it back to work, I mean give us,
give us.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, it's not about back to work. This is sort
of a trivialization back to the office.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Excuse me, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Back to the office and backs of work.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We're providing offices throughout the United States two thousand buildings
by the end of this year, so pretty much anywhere.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
You want to work, you can go locally and work.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
This is about people not wanting workers, not wanting a
waste two hours a day getting to and from an
inconvenient office. This is about technology allowing sort of platform
work to be a reality. So look, we're in the
office business So we have one point four million offices
(03:31):
worldwide today, and so we're very much in the office business.
But we're in the office business near where people live
and in New York City. You know, this isn't about
you know, the only work he's done in the United
States in New York City or Chicago. It's done all
over the country. So this is about allowing people to
(03:53):
work productively. They can do it at home, but it's
quite difficult for most jobs, some jobs to home. A
lot of people need an office to be productive, and
it just doesn't have to be miles away.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
That's all.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
For a period of time after the pandemic, when you
thought about the relationship between workers and managers or workers
and companies, the workers had the cards or had the
leverage because it was tough to find employees. That that
relationship may have shifted in recent years as the labor
market has softened a little bit, as that isn't as
tight as it was before. Who do you view right
(04:29):
now as having the leverage?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Look, companies always have leverage because they're the ones paying
the salaries, they're the ones paying the bills. So what's
driving the change is it's much it's a much lower
cost to support someone near where they live than to
get them to come to wherever you are. So, you know, companies,
(04:56):
this been driven by companies, not by the workers, just
to be clear. So companies want to save cost in
particular today, and they absolutely want flexibility with you know,
you have to say, probably many of the things you're
talking about.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
It's a volatile world.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It's harder to predict what the next few years are
going to look like alone trying to commit to five
or ten years. Hence, so they want flexibility, they want
to minimize capital investment, and that's what's driving It's not
sort of this idea that somehow workers have got leverage.
You know, if you ask workers, a lot of them
will say, yeah, look i'd love to work near to
(05:37):
home if i can. Some will say yeah, I'd like
to work at home. But all of them want to
be productive.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And it's not a sort of this sort of very
polarized argument where it's a pull and push. It's a
general push by corporations to have a much more effective,
lower cost, more practical working in part for their people.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So Mark, when it comes to the real estate model,
the commercial the office real estate model, is it going
to be then in your view from what you are
seeing your vantage point, that it's more about not company
x y Z building this massive headquarters and then maybe
you know, satellite offices around the country. It's more about
maybe having a headquarters somewhere. But then they're more likely
(06:25):
to rent space from you. Is that increasingly what you're seeing,
and so there will still be demand for office space,
but you will be someone who owns more of it
than maybe company XYZ.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
We don't own any of it, just to be clear,
so don't no, we don't. We operate it for landlords.
So landlords also can see the future. It's a technology
distorted future where you can work from anywhere we all can.
And so you know, the demand has changed, you know,
(07:02):
that's that's the reality. So we work for building owners
to convert their buildings and put them on our platform
to make them available for people and companies that want
to buy what they need when they need it, for
the time they need it with you know, a simple
you know, half a page agreement. Not there's no leases. Okay,
(07:25):
So it's a modern it's the modern picture of real.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Estate like ubrization right of office space.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Almost yeah, absolutely, so you have a good picture. We
only have about thirty seconds left. You have a really
good picture of demand for this stuff, which I think
we can use as a source of data on the economy,
at least anecdotal. How would you describe demand right now?
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Very strong.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I mean, look, we're growing. We're adding one thousand buildings
a year. We expect it will be fifty percent more
next year.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
That's that's that's demand for you. And you look that
revenue birth so on. That's that's that's how you can
see it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Interesting stuff always always, Mark Dixon, thank you so much,
CEO of International Workplace Group. By the way, there are
ADRs that trade in the US. It's a three billion
dollar market cap. They're up about forty five percent year
to date. You take a look at the stock that
trades on the London stock has changed up about thirty
five percent year to date. So investors definitely interested.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, the debate over remote work seems to be back,
at least I don't know. We kind of keep hearing
some things. It could be here for years to come.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
At least that's the subway was empty this morning for me.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I see it certainly well.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
And this is the middle of summer ninety week, going
to work when it's really hot in New York City.
I don't know if that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
He said a funny week.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Last week was a funny week. I thought last week
was until September?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Is funny until September Bloomberg Actually earlier this year, they
pointed out, though, that we would kind of continue to
have this debate. This was after President Trump added fuel
to the remote work fire when he called federal workers
back to the office full time. He might remember that,
and that followed similar moves by JP Morgan and Amazon,
And at the time it did renew some of the
tensions between those in favor of in person work and
(00:57):
the cohort that been working remotely. Or with a highat
hybrid arrangement since the pandemic. So curious to see what
our next guest has to say because he knows something.
You know, it's actually a lot about this.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Mark Dixon is CEO of International Workplace Group. It's the
Flexible office company that owns the Regis brand. Mark. What
are we all doing? Because Carol and I we never
stopped coming in.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I did a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You were from home a little bit. We were said,
we were told to you were told to go home.
I started in the fall of twenty twenty and came
right in, Yeah, you were. What is the reality from
your vantage point regarding work from home hybrid?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Look at this isn't basically the sort of debate about
work from home hybrid is sort of not missing the
whole point of what's going on. So what's going out
on is the workplace is changing into a platform where
companies who are the customers, they're the ones paying for
the workplace. Not all of them, but a lot of
(01:52):
them want to have much more flexibility, in particular in
these volatile times.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You know, AI, what's he going to do to blah
blah blah.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Hard to predict the future hard to go into permanent space.
So companies want flexibility. They want it off the ban sheet,
not on the balance sheet. They want op x, not capex,
and they want to be able to find workers anywhere
in the country. And that is what is happening. It's
a strong move by corporate America, and it's a worldwide
(02:25):
move where the real estate becomes less of something about
leases and much more about people using a platform flexibly.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So waat, so help me understand. So a lot more
hybrid going on, even though we've got some big, well
known companies saying it back to work, I mean give us,
give us.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, it's not about back to work. This is sort
of a trivialization back to the office.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Excuse me, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Back to the office and backs of work.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We're providing offices throughout the United States two thousand buildings
by the end of this year, so pretty much anywhere.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
You want to work, you can go locally and work.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
This is about people not wanting workers, not wanting a
waste two hours a day getting to and from an
inconvenient office. This is about technology allowing sort of platform
work to be a reality. So look, we're in the
office business So we have one point four million offices
(03:31):
worldwide today, and so we're very much in the office business.
But we're in the office business near where people live
and in New York City. You know, this isn't about
you know, the only work he's done in the United
States in New York City or Chicago. It's done all
over the country. So this is about allowing people to
(03:53):
work productively. They can do it at home, but it's
quite difficult for most jobs, some jobs to home. A
lot of people need an office to be productive, and
it just doesn't have to be miles away.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
That's all.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
For a period of time after the pandemic, when you
thought about the relationship between workers and managers or workers
and companies, the workers had the cards or had the
leverage because it was tough to find employees. That that
relationship may have shifted in recent years as the labor
market has softened a little bit, as that isn't as
tight as it was before. Who do you view right
(04:29):
now as having the leverage?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Look, companies always have leverage because they're the ones paying
the salaries, they're the ones paying the bills. So what's
driving the change is it's much it's a much lower
cost to support someone near where they live than to
get them to come to wherever you are. So, you know, companies,
(04:56):
this been driven by companies, not by the workers, just
to be clear. So companies want to save cost in
particular today, and they absolutely want flexibility with you know,
you have to say, probably many of the things you're
talking about.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
It's a volatile world.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It's harder to predict what the next few years are
going to look like alone trying to commit to five
or ten years. Hence, so they want flexibility, they want
to minimize capital investment, and that's what's driving It's not
sort of this idea that somehow workers have got leverage.
You know, if you ask workers, a lot of them
will say, yeah, look i'd love to work near to
(05:37):
home if i can. Some will say yeah, I'd like
to work at home. But all of them want to
be productive.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And it's not a sort of this sort of very
polarized argument where it's a pull and push. It's a
general push by corporations to have a much more effective,
lower cost, more practical working in part for their people.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So Mark, when it comes to the real estate model,
the commercial the office real estate model, is it going
to be then in your view from what you are
seeing your vantage point, that it's more about not company
x y Z building this massive headquarters and then maybe
you know, satellite offices around the country. It's more about
maybe having a headquarters somewhere. But then they're more likely
(06:25):
to rent space from you. Is that increasingly what you're seeing,
and so there will still be demand for office space,
but you will be someone who owns more of it
than maybe company XYZ.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
We don't own any of it, just to be clear,
so don't no, we don't. We operate it for landlords.
So landlords also can see the future. It's a technology
distorted future where you can work from anywhere we all can.
And so you know, the demand has changed, you know,
(07:02):
that's that's the reality. So we work for building owners
to convert their buildings and put them on our platform
to make them available for people and companies that want
to buy what they need when they need it, for
the time they need it with you know, a simple
you know, half a page agreement. Not there's no leases. Okay,
(07:25):
So it's a modern it's the modern picture of real.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Estate like ubrization right of office space.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Almost yeah, absolutely, so you have a good picture. We
only have about thirty seconds left. You have a really
good picture of demand for this stuff, which I think
we can use as a source of data on the economy,
at least anecdotal. How would you describe demand right now?
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Very strong.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I mean, look, we're growing. We're adding one thousand buildings
a year. We expect it will be fifty percent more
next year.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
That's that's that's demand for you. And you look that
revenue birth so on. That's that's that's how you can
see it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Interesting stuff always always, Mark Dixon, thank you so much,
CEO of International Workplace Group. By the way, there are
ADRs that trade in the US. It's a three billion
dollar market cap. They're up about forty five percent year
to date. You take a look at the stock that
trades on the London stock has changed up about thirty
five percent year to date. So investors definitely interested.
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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