WeWork posts US$264m quarterly loss, as it expands globally

[SAN FRANCISCO] WeWork said Wednesday that sales growth accelerated and losses slightly narrowed in the first quarter.

The New York company, one of the country's most valuable startups, is preparing to test public investors' appetite for another tech-infused, cash-burning business after the disappointing debut of Uber Technologies.

The company, which leases office buildings, renovates them and rents space to workers, reduced its loss to US$264 million last quarter, from US$274 million a year earlier.

Revenue more than doubled to US$728 million in the same period, as did membership.

The losses were driven by development costs, which almost tripled to US$160 million, and marketing expenses, which more than doubled from a year ago to US$141 million.

WeWork, which recently rebranded itself as We Co., is privately held but has agreed to report select financial information since selling bonds rated as junk a year ago.

In the new report, WeWork redefined one of the metrics it uses to show stability. Previously, it defined a category of its largest corporate customers as those with a staff of at least 1,000. These companies are seen as more likely to keep paying when an economic downturn hits, compared to freelancers or startups. WeWork expanded the group to include companies with 500 or more employees that pay for access to a WeWork, accounting for 40 per cent of members.

Analysts say 2019 is on track to be the busiest year for initial public offerings (IPOs) in at least a decade.

Several recent offerings have performed well, and more are on the way.

WeWork would probably be the second-biggest if it goes public this year as expected.

But the two largest so far, Uber and Lyft, quickly plunged below their IPO prices. They share one thing in common with WeWork: They each lose more than US$1 billion a year. WeWork lost US$1.9 billion last year on US$1.8 billion in sales.

Adam Neumann, the co-founder and chief executive officer of WeWork, is hoping to bring in more investors to help keep growth strong.

It's starting a new real estate investment fund, called ARK, to buy buildings where WeWork will be a major tenant. It will begin with almost US$3 billion, including US$1 billion from Canadian real estate investor Ivanhoé Cambridge.

As detailed in a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story on Wednesday, WeWork controls most of ARK, which means it also gets to pocket some of the value that the company believes it adds to a building when it moves in.

The company said Wednesday that it expects to generate more than US$3 billion in revenue this year. However, the average revenue for each of its roughly 466,000 members has been steadily dropping.

Two years ago, WeWork generated US$7,169 for each person who rents space in its buildings per year; this quarter, that figure is US$6,340.

WeWork said the decline is the result of opening more buildings abroad, where customers pay less for co-working services. Almost half of revenue comes from outside the US, up from 38 per cent a year ago.

BLOOMBERG