WeWork raises ‘substantial doubt’ about staying in business

WEWORK said there’s “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operating, citing sustained losses and cancelled memberships to its office spaces.

The co-working company will focus over the next 12 months on reducing rental costs, negotiating more favourable leases, increasing revenue and raising capital, WeWork said in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 8).

WeWork’s office locations, which emptied out during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, were showing slow progress towards filling back up over the last year. But the recovery appears so far to be unsustainable. WeWork said occupancy dropped in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter.

The New York-based company has also been weathering a change in leadership. Sandeep Mathrani, who took over as chief executive officer in early 2020, left in May to become a partner at private equity firm Sycamore Partners. WeWork currently has an interim CEO.

Mathrani had taken over soon after co-founder and former CEO Adam Neumann was ousted for failing to take the high-flying startup public in 2019. On Tuesday, WeWork said three of its independent board members are being replaced by four new board members.