This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.
WeWork, a bottomless pit of money
We Company, the parent company dedicated to flexible workspaces, does not foresee “benefits in the foreseeable future”, as explained in the document prior to the launch of its public offer of sale (OPV) of shares planned for the next September.
The rapid growth of the company has been accompanied so far by large losses. Thus, the company indicates that in the first half of 2019 the red numbers have reached 689.7 million dollars (616 million euros), 9.8% more than in the same period of 2018. It should be noted that between 2016 and 2018 the company expanded its revenues by more than 1,800 million dollars (1,612 million euros) and that in the first semester has obtained 1,535.4 million dollars (1,373 million euros).
This data adds to the losses of 1,600 million dollars (1,433 million euros) in 2018, 900 million dollars (806 million euros) in 2017 and more than 400 million dollars (360 million euros) in 2016, periods shown in the documentation provided by We Company.
For this reason, the company warns in the report that "we may require additional financing", which may "depend on many factors", among which they list the new centers that can be opened or the amount of expenditure they can invest in purchases, new businesses or new technologies
However, WeWork assumes that this extra financing "may not be available in favorable terms for the company at the time it is needed, or at any time." Thus, he admits that if "we are not able to obtain this additional income in favorable terms", the interests of the current financing "can grow significantly" which "can damage our business, profit and business results".
At the moment, the company has 528 flexible work centers, 43 more than at the end of the first quarter, spread throughout the world and expects to close the year with 169 new locations. In this sense, the company ensures that its members have doubled year after year "since 2014" and that it already has 50% of its customers outside the United States of America.
With these numbers, WeWork joins companies like Uber or Lyft in the list of unicorns, that is, technology companies valued above one billion dollars, which grow very quickly but also offer great losses year after year.
This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.
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