The company had planned to raise between US$3 billion and US$4 billion in its initial public offering, which would have unlocked another US$6 billion from investors. Interim co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham said there’s still “every intention to operate WeWork as a public company,” but didn’t say when that might come to pass. (Financial Times)
Talking point: After ousting CEO Adam Neumann last week, We is shifting its focus to slowing its burn rate, electing to sell non-core businesses and assets like Neumann’s US$60-million private jet. The company had been counting on a huge injection of money from the IPO. Chris Lane, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., predicts that at its current spending rate—about US$700 million per quarter—the company will run out of cash shortly after the first quarter of 2020. That trajectory has spooked some real estate partners. In Manhattan, where We is the largest private-sector tenant, landlords are passing on new leases and some building owners are considering cancelling their agreements with the firm. While the company said its office expansion will slow across its markets, it told Toronto landlord Dream Unlimited the Canadian city remains a priority. And Scott Hutcheson, executive chair of Calgary-based Aspen Properties—which is leasing soon-to-open office space to WeWork in the city—told The Logic that plans for the site are moving forward as usual.