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WeWork has filed for bankruptcy, a humbling fall for the once high-flying desk-renting start-up co-founded by Adam Neumann and backed by billions of dollars from Japan’s SoftBank.

The company that set out to revolutionise the office real estate market could not escape the combined forces of pricey leases it had signed before the Covid-19 pandemic and weak occupancy rates as hybrid working gained popularity.

WeWork said last night it had struck an agreement with nearly all of its creditors to convert $3bn of existing loans and bonds into equity in the reorganised company. The Chapter 11 process allows WeWork to terminate leases early with little financial penalty as it seeks to restructure its more than $13bn in lease obligations.

WeWork said its office spaces were “open and operational” as normal, and its international business outside the US and Canada was unaffected by the bankruptcy filing.

At its peak in early 2019, WeWork was valued in private markets at $47bn as it snapped up office space around the world in order to turbo charge growth under its charismatic co-founder. Here’s more on the bankruptcy filing.

And what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Elections: Off-year elections will take place in states across the US today — a year before the presidential election. The results will provide an indication of the strength of support for the president as he prepares for a tough re-election campaign. Follow the results as they come in on our live blog.

• Supreme Court: The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the gun control case United States vs Rahimi, which challenges the constitutionality, based on the Second Amendment, of a federal law prohibiting those with domestic violence-related restraining orders from owning firearms.

• Results: KKR, Carlyle Group, DR Horton and Squarespace will report their latest quarterly earnings before Wall Street opens. Uber, eBay, Fidelity, Robinhood, Rivian and Cava report after the market closes. To receive a preview of the companies reporting, sign up to our Week Ahead newsletter.

Five more top stories

1. Israel will maintain an “indefinite” grip over Gaza to ensure its own security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The comments, made on ABC News, come a month after a Hamas raid in southern Israel left 1,400 dead and saw more 240 hostages taken to Gaza in the deadliest attack on the Jewish state since its foundation in 1948. Here’s more on Netanyahu’s interview.

2. UBS has posted its first quarterly loss in almost six years as the Swiss lender laid bare the costs of integrating Credit Suisse following the state-orchestrated rescue of its rival. The cost of integrating its rival drove UBS to a net loss of $785mn in the third quarter, the bank said. Stripping out the costs associated with the takeover, the lender generated a pre-tax profit of $844mn.

3. Donald Trump delivered heated testimony that drew rebukes from the judge in a New York civil fraud trial that threatens his business empire. The former US president used the witness stand to play down the importance of financial statements at the centre of the lawsuit, lash out at adversaries and discredit the process. Here’s more from Trump’s tumultuous day in court.

4. OpenAI plans to launch a store with custom versions of ChatGPT in the coming weeks. Called GPTs, the apps will be adapted and tailored for specific applications, turning the chatbot interface into a digital platform similar to iOS and Android. The Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence company plans to collate the best apps and eventually split revenues with the most popular GPT creators. Here’s more on its plans.

• Opinion: While there are legitimate security concerns over China, Europe and the US won’t win the AI race by depriving themselves of talent, writes Columbia Law School’s Anu Bradford.

5. The founder of Tencent-backed game-streaming site DouYu has been taken away by Chinese authorities, becoming the latest tech entrepreneur to run into trouble in the country. Two people familiar with the matter said 39-year-old Chen Shaojie, chief executive of the Nasdaq-listed group, was taken away several weeks ago. Here’s what we know so far about the disappearance.

The Big Read

One year out from an election that many analysts believe could be a defining moment in US history, Joe Biden is persistently behind in the polls and under growing pressure within his party. Yet Biden is pressing ahead with his re-election campaign and is betting everything on “Bidenomics”, his personal economic blueprint that he believes represents a decisive break with four decades of “triple-down economics”. But voters remain overwhelmingly downbeat on the US economy.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Green transition: Indonesia’s president has called on the west to release a promised $20bn to finance his country’s green energy transition. “Indonesia has walked the talk,” Joko Widodo said in an interview with the Financial Times.

• ‘Silent debt crisis’: Many smaller emerging markets are struggling with the impact of high US interest rates on their already-fragile finances, the World Bank has warned.

• Afghans uprooted: More than 200,000 people have been expelled by Pakistan and told to return to a country under Taliban rule.

Chart of the day

Houston has overtaken Miami to take the top slot as the best US city for foreign multinationals to do business, in the second annual ranking compiled by the Financial Times and Nikkei. It reached the position by offering business friendly policies, excellent logistics, affordable cost of living and a diverse community for overseas companies. Explore the full list.

Take a break from the news

When it comes to creating successful businesses, it pays to have a few grey hairs. The FT’s Jonathan Moules explores why more older people are founding start-ups, despite the prejudices of investors.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm