Wework’s former and current CEOs Adam Neumann and Sandeep Mathrani (Getty, iStock)
WeWork’s financial troubles keep getting worse.
The embattled co-working company reported $2.1 billion in losses in the first quarter, according to the Financial Times. WeWork also shed 200,000 members over the last year, about a quarter of its membership. Membership dipped to 490,000 in March, from 693,00 in March 2020.
Adding to that, the firm has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to restructure its portfolio.
About $500 million in losses for the quarter was from its settlement with ousted co-founder Adam Neumann, the Times reported.
The news comes amid WeWork’s latest plans to go public, this time with a special-purpose acquisition company. And it follows the $3.2 billion WeWork lost in 2020.
From January through March, revenue fell 50 percent to $598 million, compared to $1.1 billion over the same period in 2020.
Massive restructuring costs also accounted for some of the company’s losses. WeWork spent $494 million in the first quarter of 2021 to back out of unprofitable properties, the Times reported. That compared to just $56 million it spent over the same period in 2020.
But executives have also expressed some optimism for the future. WeWork projected full-year revenue of $7 billion in 2024 — a leap from last year’s $3.2 billion — in a March chat with prospective investors.
A source close to the company noted WeWork had access to $2.2 billion in liquidity, saying that the company “is on track operationally and financially.”
[FT] — Suzannah Cavanaugh
